


Happy Endings

by secooper87



Series: Adventures of a Line Hopper [17]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Doctor Who, Torchwood
Genre: Angst and Humor, Doctor Whump, F/M, Humor, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-27
Updated: 2013-04-15
Packaged: 2017-12-03 20:19:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 49
Words: 137,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/702252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/secooper87/pseuds/secooper87
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's 2007.  The ghost shifts have begun, the Archangel Network has launched, and someone's just fallen out of the Void.  A petite blond girl.  And now it's up to Buffy to deal with her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> _Previously, in Adventures of A Line Hopper :_
> 
>  
> 
> _"Death is coming; death for all."_
> 
>  _In_ the Bringer of Death _, the Doctor is kidnapped, tortured, and pushed to breaking point by a group of brutal, heartless vampires. The First is clearly behind it. So is someone else. By the end of the story, the Doctor and Buffy are reunited, and that reunion causes the Doctor to flip out and wipe out nearly every single vampire on the planet._  
> 
> _Buffy gives up her position as President of the Slayer Institution to Ria Hiskaloph, a friend of the Doctor's. Ria recognizes Dawn's importance to the Institution, and Dawn is basically made second-in-command._
> 
> _Buffy moves to London, where, with some help from Jack, she becomes a freelance agent for every single world-saving group out there. She is also near Giles and the Tylers, with whom she has a close relationship. She encourages Jack to call her if his Cardiff team ever needs her help and expertise._
> 
> _In regards to the Doctor, Buffy tells Jack that part of her will always keep looking for him. But another part thinks… maybe it's better if she never runs into him, again. Buffy eventually decides that the Doctor part of her life is over, and she has to move on._
> 
> _It's time to find her happy ending._
> 
> * * *

**Prologue**

...

_"Let me tell you a story. A story with a happy ending."_

...

"Stop!" shouted Yvonne Hartman, running out of her glass-paneled office. "Shut down!"

Around her, the entire Torchwood team vaulted themselves into the shut-down procedures, as a group of scientists approached the object that had just emerged from the rift. A spherical black object, shiny and metallic, yet giving off an uneasy sort of energy to any nearby.

Hartman joined them.

One of the scientists ran a device across the outside. "Appears to have..." The scientist stopped, then shook the device. Then hit it against its side. "That can't be right."

"What can't be right?" asked Hartman.

"It's just a glitch," the scientist apologized. "A fault with the analyzer. I mean, obviously, the Sphere exists. It's right in front of us."

Hartman grabbed the device out of the scientist's hands. "According to these readings," she said, studying them, "it doesn't." No atomic mass. No heat. No radiation. No nothing.

Everyone in the room jumped, as a groan resounded from the far side of the Sphere, and there was a resounding thud of a body hitting the floor. Torchwood members scurried around, one agent — Lisa — lunging forwards to help.

Hartman rounded the far side of the Sphere, curious.

Lisa looked up from her position on the floor, supporting the pale, unconscious petite blond girl. "She must have been clinging onto the outside," Lisa explained. She looked down at the girl, checking her respiration and vital signs. The girl was gasping for air, shivering, her skin frosty and frozen. "We should get her to the infirmary. I think she's hurt."

Hartman looked between the girl and the Sphere. "Clinging to the outside?" she mused.

But her musings were cut off by a scream. Everyone looked back, just in time to see a Torchwood technician, having touched the Sphere, burn away to nothing in front of their eyes. They looked back at Hartman.

Hartman looked down at the girl.

Who had come through the rift, clinging to this very Sphere, and managed to survive it.

"Interesting," said Hartman. She turned back to Lisa, a small smile on her face. "Take her down to the Medical Lab for analysis. I think we should find out who she is, and what she knows."

* * *

"Oh, I don't even know, anymore," Jackie Tyler said, handing Buffy a cup of tea. "'Traveling', that's all I ever get. 'Just traveling, mum.' And don't ask me where, because she never sends a post card."

"At least she's having fun," said Buffy.

Jackie sighed, and sat down at the table, opposite Buffy. "I never even know if she's going to come home," she admitted. "That Doctor friend of hers — he's nothing but trouble. Oh, he's nice enough, don't get me wrong, and he's done some amazing things, but at the end of the day, I just don't know if he'll keep my Rose safe."

Buffy said nothing, just sipped at her tea.

A thud from downstairs.

Buffy looked up. "What was that?"

"No idea," said Jackie, sipping at her own tea. "Peggy heard this noise in the cellar just before you showed up. Went downstairs to check. Probably just a stray cat."

But Buffy could tell that Jackie wasn't thinking about stray cats in the cellar. Not at all. There was something else on her mind — namely, her daughter, and the mysterious stranger that had taken her away.

"You haven't met the Doctor, have you?" asked Jackie, tea cup in hand.

"No," Buffy lied.

"You wouldn't like him," Jackie said. "Always looking for trouble, always poking his nose in where it doesn't belong. I tell you, every time he shows up, something bad happens."

"Rose likes him," Buffy offered. "That's got to count for something."

"But what's happening to her?" Jackie said, putting down the tea cup. "Sometimes, I look at Rose, and I don't even see her anymore. All I see is him. What he's turning her into."

Buffy swirled her tea around her glass. Thinking of her own time spent with the Doctor, how it had changed her. "She's growing up."

"I mean, why couldn't Rose go out with a nice, normal man?" Jackie complained. "Like... your bloke. Benjy. Now he's a real catch."

Buffy froze. Her heart pounding a little harder. She put down the cup, unable to meet Jackie's eyes.

"Yeah," Buffy said, keeping her voice low so it wouldn't shake. "Yeah, he... really was."

Jackie paused, noticing Buffy's changed demeanor. "Oh," she said. "I didn't know. Did he...?"

"Car accident," said Buffy. "A month ago." Which is what she told everyone, because it sounded a lot more convincing than explaining that he'd been eaten by a Bankovelich Demon, while Buffy had been stopping an apocalypse.

Jackie's expression folded into that familiar mom-like sympathy. "My Pete went that way," she said. "I'll never forget him."

Buffy nodded. Not wanting to talk about it.

Jackie glanced out the window, up at the sky. "Know what I think?" she asked. She nodded at the heavens. "Someone up there ought to sit up and notice. 'S not natural, seven boyfriends in the last two years. Not when four of them go like that."

No. Not natural for anyone. Except Buffy. Who had terrible luck with boyfriends.

"I'll find the right guy, eventually," said Buffy, still not looking at Jackie. "I'm just... I'm like cookies. I'm still in the oven, baking, and you don't know what I'll wind up being when I'm done." She took in a sharp breath, thinking of the boyfriends she'd dated who hadn't broken up with her by choice. But had actually died, while trying to help her. "Or… something."

Jackie picked up the tea pot, and began pouring Buffy more tea. "Well, rest assured, you're always welcome here. Any time you need a shoulder to cry on." She paused, then set the tea pot down. "Which reminds me."

She hurried off, down the hall, and returned to the living room with a book in her hands.

"Saw this at the grocery store, and thought of you," said Jackie, handing the book to Buffy. "Don't know why. Maybe it'll take your mind off things for a bit."

Buffy took the book, and glanced at the cover. Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer.

Jackie hesitated. "You haven't… read it already?"

"No," Buffy lied. She planted a smile on her face, and put it down next to her teacup. "No, it looks great."

Jackie grinned at her, then went to put the tea pot away.

"I'll just add it to the pile," Buffy muttered under her breath, nudging the book minutely away from her. Another copy. Another gift.

Honestly, you date two vampires…!

Jackie re-entered the room with a plate of cookies. "Really, though. I'm always here. Always good for a chat and a cup of tea. If you ever need anyone to..."

Jackie trailed off. Her eyes growing wide. She gasped in fear, and the cookies crashed to the ground.

Buffy turned in her seat, to discover a silvery, shimmery, insubstantial man-shaped ghost striding across the apartment floor, before stepping through the far wall and disappearing.

Buffy jumped to her feet and ran to the window, to discover the Powell Estates teeming with the translucent creatures, people screaming and running away from them, their eyes wide and terrified.

"What are they?" Jackie cried, peering over Buffy's shoulder. "What's happening?"

Buffy sighed. "My life," she muttered.


	2. Part I

...

_"Once upon a time, there was a human woman. A Slayer. Named Buffy…"_

...

"They're not ghosts," Willow said, as Giles drove her and Xander back from the airport. "I don't know what they are, but they're not ghosts."

"Certainly not," Giles agreed.

"Seen ghosts," said Xander. "Been haunted by ghosts. Been nearly killed by ghosts. These guys? Not ghosts."

Buffy leaned against the window of the car. "And Ria's sure that whatever's causing these... 'not ghosts'... is coming from London?"

"Sure? No," said Xander. "Advised by Willow, who was able to do a spell that traced some of the energy? Yep."

"I can't get an exact pinpoint on it," Willow said. "Something keeps screwing up my spells, right around ghost shift. Magic gets kind of unreliable. But I'm pretty sure — whatever's causing the ghosts, it's in London."

"So here we are!" said Xander.

Buffy glanced around the car, a small grin on her face. "It's like high school all over again," she commented. "You, me, Xander, and Giles. Working out mysteries and fighting evil demons."

"Assuming, of course, that we really are facing demons," Giles qualified. "While the phenomena does greatly resemble a demonic manifestation — may I remind you that London does _not_ have a Hellmouth."

"The nearest rift is Cardiff," said Buffy. "That's a few hours by car. Not so close."

"Okay, so if they're not ghosts," said Xander, "and they're not demons, then... what are they?"

"Giles has some theories," Buffy said. "But basically all of his have to do with some prophecy about the Second Lost Sheep of Antioch. So I'm with the no-go on the Giles theories."

"What about you?" Willow asked Buffy.

Buffy stared out the car window, at the city around her. "Well, based on past experience, if we're lucky," she said, "I think it's just an evil alien army invading from another dimension, and trying to take over the Earth."

Everyone went silent.

"And if we're not lucky?" Xander ventured.

Buffy sighed. "That's the part I'm still trying to work out."

* * *

Hartman strode down the hall, setting a brisk pace, two Torchwood agents trailing her. She didn't stop as a third approached, file folder in hand, and hurried to catch up with her.

"The prisoner?" asked Hartman.

"Awake," said the pursuing agent. "Drugged. She won't be causing trouble."

"But has she talked?" Hartman demanded.

The Torchwood agent hesitated. "Only... about the usual."

Hartman frowned, but kept walking. "Shame," she said, swiping her security card through the reader, and engaging the retina scan. "I was hoping this meeting would be more pleasant."

The door slid open, and Hartman stepped inside. The girl, her arms and legs in manacles, her head drooping and her breath coming heavily, was secured at the other end of the cell. She looked up, with sluggish eyes, the moment Hartman entered.

"And how are you today?" Hartman asked, planting an officious smile on her face.

"Amazing," said the girl. "I could run a marathon."

Hartman gave the girl a pointed look.

"You're keeping me locked up and drugged," said the girl, with a sigh. "How do you think I feel?"

Hartman glanced back at the two Torchwood agents that had flanked her. They went up to the girl, offering food and water. The girl looked at both, but touched neither.

"You've got no right to keep me here," the girl insisted.

"We've got every right," Hartman said, just like she'd said every day. "If it's alien, it's ours. And you're alien."

"For the last time, I'm not an alien!" the girl said. "I'm from Earth. An American citizen. Natural born. I could be president if I wanted to! That's more than you can say."

"You fell through a rift," Hartman pointed out. "In time and space."

"I fall through lots of stuff," the girl replied. "I thought I was falling down a rabbit hole, but I'm pretty sure this isn't Wonderland. It has a distinct lack of giant talking caterpillars."

Hartman crossed her arms, a stern expression on her face. "Why don't you tell us about the Sphere?"

"Because you're imprisoning me, torturing me, and drugging me," said the girl. "Those okay reasons? Because I've got some backups."

Hartman turned to the scientist that had been looking after the girl. "Has she been this difficult all day?"

"She was worse, earlier," said the scientist. "When she first woke up, she freaked out. We had to put her under heavy sedation for an hour."

"Was that before or after you strapped me down to something not-very-nice and started poking sharp, painful things into me?" the girl cut in. "I don't remember."

Hartman turned back to the prisoner. "I'd be happy to make your stay more comfortable," she said. "You just have to tell us what we want to know. Tell us about the Sphere."

"It's a sphere," said the girl. "Round. Metallic. No corners — have you worked that one out, yet? Because if you find a corner, then it's probably not a sphere — or not the way you define—"

Hartman cleared her throat, irritated.

"What else do you want?" asked the girl. "I told you. I was just walking along, minding my own business, when I tripped and accidentally fell into a nearby space-time rift. I found the Sphere, hung onto the outside, and wound up here."

"You hung onto the outside," Hartman repeated. "And survived."

The girl looked down at herself. "I think so. I appear to still be alive. Unless there's something you're not telling me."

"That same Sphere vaporized one of my agents the moment he touched it," said Hartman. "But you clung to it for who knows how long. And have wound up just fine."

"Well, I am a very friendly person," said the girl. "Maybe the Sphere just liked me!"

Hartman sighed, knowing that, as always, these were the only kinds of answers she was likely to get.

"All right, then, let's move on to you," said Hartman. "Who are you?"

The girl looked down at the ground. "No comment."

"You've mentioned you were in prison, before you arrived," Hartman said. "That you escaped, and wound up here."

The girl said nothing.

"What were you imprisoned for?" Hartman asked. "Where? How long were you in prison?"

The girl met Hartman's eyes with her own piercing, bright ones. "I want a lawyer."

Hartman gave a vaguely amused laugh.

"In accordance with the US constitution," said the girl, "I demand the right to due process of law, to be tried by a jury of my peers, to a lawyer and legal counsel, and to a Coke!"

"Since you are an alien, you have..." Hartman stopped, as she registered what the girl had just said. "Sorry, did you say... a Coke?"

"Yes, please!" said the girl. "In a bottle — not a can. I want to be able to put the cap back on, when I'm done."

"The United States Constitution," the scientist beside them checked, "gives you the right to... a Coke?"

"Amendment 21," said the girl. "All Americans, regardless of race, gender, or societal standing, can drink whatever they want, whenever they want. Even a Coke. So!" She reached out her hand, expectantly. "Coke, please!"

Hartman and the scientist looked at one another. Then back at the girl.

"Let's say I believed you," said Hartman. "All anomalies aside, I thought that maybe you really were born in the United States, and that you are an American citizen with legal rights and civil liberties. You've given us no information about you. Not a name. Not a birth date. Not a home town. Nothing at all."

The girl said nothing.

"You have no identity here on Earth," said Hartman. "You escaped an alien prison using a rift in space and time, and landed in Torchwood. That alone would be enough evidence to prove you're an alien — and a dangerous one, at that."

The girl, once more, said nothing.

Hartman turned, and headed out the door, the two Torchwood agents she came in with following, close behind. "Useless idiot," Hartman muttered, opening the door to the prison.

The rustle of chains, and then the girl's voice, calling out to them, "Wait!"

Hartman stopped, and glanced over her shoulder. The girl had fallen forwards, her hand outstretched as far as the chains would let her, her eyes glued onto Hartman. Pleading, fearful eyes.

"My... my name," said the girl, in a quiet voice. "It's... Buffy. Buffy Anne Summers."

* * *

Giles was already piling up ghost research books onto the desk in his front room, and Willow was putting down her bags. Xander had out his cell phone, scratching his head.

"All I know is the cell phone guy at the corner, who also sells pizza, said it'd work in England," said Xander. "And if you can't trust the pizza-man cell-phone-guy, then who can you trust?"

Willow grabbed the phone out of Xander's hand, then sighed. "I told you to get Archangel," she said, giving it back. "That's why it doesn't work."

"Well, I thought about it," said Xander, "and realized I could either spend the money to upgrade my phone and get Archangel — or, on the other hand, I could buy a slice of pizza. I went with the pizza."

"You don't have Archangel?" asked Buffy. She laughed. "Even Giles has Archangel."

Giles looked up at them. "Sorry?"

"Archangel," Buffy said. "You know. Latest craze? Newest thing on the block? Hype of media junkies everywhere?" Upon seeing that Giles had no idea what she was talking about, she raised up her own cell phone. "Phone service?"

"Ah," said Giles. "Yes. The Archangel Mobile Phone Network. I do have that." Then turned back to his books, brought out the top one, and began flipping through it.

Buffy gave a sideways smile, then perched herself on the arm of Giles' couch, and thumbed through the menu on her cell phone. "I better text Dawn to let her know you guys got in okay," she said, typing in the message. "How's she doing, by the way? Last I heard, she was feeling all left-out and ignored."

"Well, yeah, but... that's not really our faults," Willow said. "I mean, she's always been right there in the middle of things, helping Ria out. But... just in the last little bit, she's been..." Willow cringed. "...kind of... forgettable."

"Fading into the woodwork," Xander confirmed.

"Like, she was at this meeting, yesterday," said Willow, "and she didn't say or do anything. At all! We all kind of forgot she was there, until she randomly jumped up and started shouting at us."

"She's probably just trying to figure out her priorities," Buffy said. "I had to do that, back in 2005. Maybe the Slayer Institution just isn't right for her. You never know—"

The cell phone in her hand buzzed into life, the caller ID displaying, "ID Unknown." So... probably work related. All the top-secret groups Buffy freelanced for blocked their ID numbers. Buffy excused herself, and took the call.

"Buffy?" came Jack's voice. "Where are you?"

Buffy glanced down at the cell phone. Then rolled her eyes. Yeah, like Jack wasn't tracing the call this very minute, and pinpointing her exact location on his mega-computers. Buffy stepped forwards, to the window, and waved at the nearest CCTV camera. "Tell Tosh I'm the friendly person waving at the CCTV camera through a window."

A short pause. Then, "Camden, London."

"Giles' house, in case you're interested," said Buffy. "And, before you ask, Giles and I are all over the ghost-thing. No need to worry."

"So... you're _not_ currently imprisoned in Torchwood London," Jack checked.

Buffy frowned. "Not that I know of," she said. "I haven't had anything to do with Hartman since I left Cleveland. Why?"

"She just got in touch," said Jack. "Since I know you. Apparently, someone with your name and physical description has just... randomly appeared in Torchwood London."

Buffy's heart skipped a beat. "What?"

"Hartman's checked your birth certificate, your government records, anything and everything she can get her hands on," said Jack. "This girl's story matches to a tee. She's you in every respect — except that you're not her."

Buffy's eyes went wide, as a myriad of information flooded through her head. "This... other-me. Where is she?"

"Torchwood London. Like I said."

"But... locked up, or running free, or...?"

"Locked up, right now," said Jack. "But if she's a US citizen, they can't keep her that way. Foreign relations nightmare." He paused. "Like that time, when I met up with the Ambassador of Norway. Now there was a night to remember."

"This other-me, she's not... look, she's not from this world," said Buffy. "And she's not sane. Like, really. Not sane. Keep her locked up, well guarded, and..." She gritted her teeth. "Damn it, Hartman's the one who's really gunning for the Doctor, isn't she?"

"Yep."

"Then pull some strings," said Buffy. "Get Hartman to transfer other-me over to Torchwood Cardiff or the Slayer Institution or something. But be careful! She's manipulative, and cunning, and... did I mention the 'insane' part? You can think you're completely in control, when she's the one calling the shots. Make sure she's knocked out for the trip to Cardiff, and keep her like that until I can get over there."

"By 'insane', you're talking...?" asked Jack.

"Killing 38,000 people so she could prove to the Doctor that he was a monster," said Buffy. "And that was using Earth technology, having basically no money, and without a group dedicated to collecting anti-Doctor propaganda. You give her access to Torchwood, and we'll be lucky if London's still standing in a month."

"Right," said Jack. "'Insane'."

"I'll be in Cardiff as fast as I can," said Buffy. "Promise. Just make sure you get Elizabeth out of Torchwood London — and wait for me. Really. Wait for me."

She hung up.

Willow, Xander, and Giles were all staring at her, as she made her way outside. Her call of, "Be back soon," was nearly lost in the London traffic, as she left.

"Five bucks says she's only trying to get her hands on Elizabeth so she can beat her up," said Willow.

Giles wiped his glasses off. "Now, Willow," he said, "this is Buffy we're talking about." He put his glasses back on. "She'll probably nurse Elizabeth back to health. _Then_ beat the living daylights out of her."


	3. Chapter 3

Buffy, as always, followed Jack into Torchwood Cardiff, discreetly chucking her coffee into a potted plant on the way in. Seriously, Torchwood had super high-tech equipment, but couldn't make a decent cup of coffee?

These guys really needed to hire some kind of mega-coffee-guru.

"Well, I've got good news and bad news," said Jack, as they entered the Hub. He pulled out a chair and offered it, but Buffy held out a hand in polite refusal.

"Good first," said Buffy.

"According to Hartman, the girl's a complete idiot," said Jack. "And with the possibility of an international incident in the mix, Hartman's more than happy to get rid of her."

"Great," said Buffy. "So Elizabeth's on her way here, then."

"That's the bad news," said Jack. "According to Hartman, the girl won't leave."

Buffy cringed.

"Hartman could be lying," Jack proposed. "She doesn't like to give away her alien prisoners. I know that about her already."

"With Elizabeth around, I'm guessing Hartman isn't," said Buffy. She slumped down into the chair that Jack had offered, and buried her face in her hands, trying to calm herself down. Then looked up at Jack, again. "How much did she look like me?"

Jack walked over to a computer terminal, typed a few things, and brought up a display. An artist's sketch of... well, basically, Buffy. "This is the picture Hartman sent."

"Damn," said Buffy. "That's me all right." She shook her head. "I guess that means... I've got no choice. I have to get her out of there, one way or another. If she won't leave... that means I'm breaking her out."

"You want to infiltrate Torchwood London," Jack clarified.

"Jack," said Buffy. "'Insane'. Remember?"

Jack leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. "And if you actually get her out — what are you going to do with her?" he asked. He gestured at the Hub. "You can't keep her here. Hartman would just raid the Hub and take her back."

"I'll work something out," said Buffy. "The most important thing, right now, is to get her away from the Overfunded-Doctor-Fearing-Alien-Tech-Group. You with me?"

Jack paused, considering. "As head of Torchwood Cardiff, I have to say no." Then went to the computer bank, and flipped off the Hub surveillance cameras. And winked at Buffy. "But as a friend — I've got a few ideas."

* * *

"The most important thing to remember," Giles warned, helping Buffy to get together her things for the break-in, "is that Elizabeth, no matter how charming or persuasive she might be, is completely and utterly mad."

"That's not fair," Xander complained. "She's not 'mad'. She's just got... murderous, evil voices inside her head, commanding her to kill everyone. All the time."

"Murderous, evil voices," Buffy repeated, stuffing a canister into her backpack. "Got it."

"The voices she whole-heartedly believes are the Doctor," Giles explained. "Despite any and all evidence to the contrary."

"And she knows exactly what's going on," said Willow, "but she's in denial about it. She's turning evil but won't admit it, and if you tip her too far over the edge, she's going to kill everyone."

Buffy grimaced. "Right." She zipped up the backpack, then swung it over her shoulder, and checked her watch. "Better get going. You guys set up something secure, for when I get back. And... Will... do some Torchwood-deflecting spell around this house or something. To make sure they don't track us down."

"I can try," said Willow. "But you know magic's been really iffy lately. Especially around ghost shift."

"Do your best," said Buffy.

"Be careful, Buffy," Giles warned. "Elizabeth may seem ordinary and harmless, but she really is quite dangerous."

Buffy gave a small smile. "Of course she's dangerous," she said. "She's me."

Then turned, and walked out to the front door.

Xander hesitated, then ran after Buffy. "Buff! Wait!"

Buffy stopped, just in front of the door, and turned to Xander.

"Just... just go easy on her, okay?" said Xander. "I know she did some crazy stuff, last time she came here, and I know you probably want your revenge, but... inside, she's still you. She doesn't..."

Buffy reached out, and put a hand on Xander's shoulder. "I'm not going to kill Elizabeth," she said. "Not even hurt her. Promise. I'm just making sure she doesn't hurt anyone else."

Then Buffy spun around, hand against her ear, activating her earpiece. "How're we doing?" she asked Jack.

"Just gained access to the power grid," said Jack. "You've got 15 minutes before the cameras go down and all hell breaks loose."

Buffy switched off the earpiece, as the Torchwood van pulled up to the house. "Here goes nothing!"

* * *

Jack had his entire team working — in a completely off-the-books capacity — to make this break-out happen. Most of them were back in Cardiff, just so they'd have deniability when Hartman found her alien prisoner gone. Suzie was the only one sent out here, to London.

Buffy had gone over the plan a thousand times. She knew all the floor plans, everywhere guards were posted, every trick she needed to get around unseen. But she went over them, again, now, just to make sure she remembered everything she needed to.

"Personally," Suzie called out to Buffy, who was hiding in the back of the Torchwood van, "I think this whole scheme is mad."

Buffy checked her watch. Ten minutes till the cameras went down — thank you, Tosh.

"And even if you do succeed, all the suspicion and blame is going to fall on Jack," Suzie continued, turning right.

"That's the idea," Buffy muttered.

After all, what could Hartman really do to Jack? She'd search the Hub at Cardiff, find nothing, and be left with only suspicions and sketchy evidence at best. And even if she did kill him… it was Jack!

"Jack said he'd been intending to send these Mount Snowden magna-clamps to Hartman for some time," said Buffy, glancing at the crates surrounding her. "I'm just helping you make your delivery a little faster."

Suzie sighed. "Some of us were still studying those things," she grumbled.

Buffy rolled her eyes, but didn't answer. She could argue, but what was the point? Torchwood may be convinced that alien tech was the answer to monster-fighting, but in Buffy's experience, there was no monster — however technologically advanced — that couldn't be defeated using whatever was on hand at the time, a trusty crossbow, and a really good plan.

The van slowed, and Suzie rolled down her window, speaking to the guy at the security check point. Buffy crouched down lower, so she was almost flat against the floor of the van, the myriad of spilled packing peanuts and materials hiding her from view.

("Hartman thinks I'm a slob, anyways," Jack had told Buffy.)

The trunk opened, the blanket was removed from the top of the crate pile, and the cargo inspected. Buffy held her breath, until the trunk closed, and everyone was gone.

Then Suzie re-entered the van, and drove on.

Buffy sat up. Checked her watch.

Five minutes to start time.

* * *

Hartman sat down in her office chair, her lips still in a frown.

"Still no success with the prisoner, then?" asked Gareth, standing in the doorway to her office.

"She explained to me," said Hartman, her voice edged with frustration, "at some length, that she was almost positive the Sphere had no straight edges. But if we did find any straight edges — particularly six of them — then it might come as a shock to the Sphere to realize it was actually a cube." Hartman massaged her temples. "That prisoner is going to drive me mad."

"And anything else about herself?" Gareth asked.

"Nothing that helps us," said Hartman. "I think she's fast outliving her usefulness."

Gareth hesitated. "If she really is an American Citizen..."

"She's an alien," Hartman cut in. "That's clear. The only question is whether we schedule her for a vivisection or a dissection." Hartman sighed, then got to her feet. "Everyone ready for ghost shift?"

"Twenty minutes," Gareth replied.

"Right on schedule," said Hartman, with a smile, brushing past Gareth and heading into the control room. "Let's see if we can't find out..."

Then the lights flickered, and every camera in the building — simultaneously — cut out.

* * *

The flicker was Buffy's cue to go.

Jack had explained this to her — Hartman, expecting alien sabotage, had built in a failsafe mechanism into the Torchwood London power grid. The software that directed power to their building rewrote itself back to Hartman's default settings once every forty minutes.

"It should be foolproof," Tosh had explained to Buffy, typing furiously at a computer, "but within the past few weeks, Hartman's changed something in her base program. There's a glitch in the power grid software, ten minutes after the cycle resets. And a smaller one after 25 minutes."

They hacked in at 10 minutes past the reset. Then waited another 15 minutes, before taking advantage, and cutting the cameras.

As they'd just done, now.

Using every stealth technique Buffy had at her disposal, she climbed a nearby tree, and swung forwards along a branch towards an upper-story window. Bracing her legs between the corners of two windows, keeping Slayer balance, she grabbed the outside panel of the window and braced herself. She'd seen Xander install these kinds of windows, back in Sunnydale, so she knew that — just enough force, in just the right place, would get the window open. And not even Torchwood would expect her to be able to apply that kind of pressure to a window this high up.

The window slid open, and Buffy climbed inside. Closed the window, checked for guards or other agents, then slipped quietly towards the elevator shaft.

Right there.

She yanked the front panel off the elevator controls, and began yanking out wires. Enough of them, and the system would shut down.

A spark. Then a sizzle.

Buffy pried open the elevator doors, and climbed down the cable.

12 minutes left before the cycle reset.

* * *

"Impossible," said Gareth, at his computer. "We've tested these systems over and over again. There's no way they could fail."

"How long before you restore functionality?" Hartman asked.

Gareth cringed. "To restore full functionality, we'd need to divert the energy from the ghost shift."

Hartman sucked a sharp breath in through her teeth. Whoever had done this had either been very lucky, or very well informed. And Hartman wasn't liking either option.

An agent ran into the room. "Yvonne," he said, "Suzie Costello wants to know if she can leave, despite the emergency."

Hartman snapped her head around. "Suzie who?"

"Costello," said the agent. "From Torchwood Cardiff. She was here to drop off the magna-clamps we got from—"

Hartman clenched her fists, her eyes blazing. "Harkness!"

The agent hesitated. "Sorry?"

"It's Harkness hacking my cameras!" Hartman shouted. "He's trying to steal my alien!" She took a deep breath, forcing herself to remain calm. Then spun on her heels and burst into her office. Grabbing up the phone, punching in the extension.

"Dr. Gretterman?" said Hartman. "Kill the alien."

And hung up.

"Yvonne," said an agent nearby. "Are you sure...?"

"It's a matter of pride," said Hartman. "I'm not letting Harkness steal my alien. No matter what!"

* * *

Buffy creaked open the doors of the elevator shaft. Yep. Crawling with Torchwood agents. She reached into her backpack, brought out a can of gas, then rolled it across the floor and shut the elevator shaft doors. Waiting, as she heard the bodies fall to the ground. Securing a gas mask, Buffy sprung out the elevator shaft and into the hall. She stood straight, trying to reorient herself.

Then, from her right, a horrified, piercing scream.

Buffy spun on her heel, and ran. Throwing caution to the wind. She turned three corners, ran half way down a corridor, and found herself outside a locked white block door. The screaming growing fainter and fainter by the moment.

Buffy grabbed the handle of the door, and yanked it off its hinges.

The scientist lady inside looked up, a guilty expression on her face and an empty syringe in her hand. She was crouched by the chained up figure on the far-side of the cell — a petite, blonde girl, who was slumped forwards, mouth open, eyes shut, body shaking.

The scientist lady stood up, staring at Buffy. "But that's..." glancing over at the figure on the ground. "You're..."

Buffy cringed, then knocked the scientist lady out with a well-aimed kick to the head.

"Sorry," Buffy said to the scientist lady, as she grabbed up the scientist's keys, unlocked the chains, and grabbed up the limp girl from the ground. Outside, she could hear the stomping march of backup coming in.

Buffy slung the girl over her shoulder, and dug out her last gas can. Threw it, as the Torchwood agents flooded into the room, then dodged and weaved through them, so that she bolted out the door and forced her way into the office across the corridor.

The office with a great big window, looking out onto the street. Perfect.

Grabbing the girl a little tighter, Buffy leapt through the window, smashing the glass panel with her back, tumbling through the air and bracing both herself and the girl she was rescuing. They rolled, expertly, as they collided with the pavement.

The sound of honking horns and London traffic nearby. Buffy looked around. She hadn't landed in the street, just on the sidewalk. But she _had_ managed to leap over the security check-point. Go Slayer skills!

Buffy stumbled to her feet, other-her in her arms, and ran.

* * *

"Pulse is weak," Buffy called, as she burst into Giles' house. She slammed the door behind her with her foot, then raced towards the bedroom they'd secured ahead of time. "She's breathing heavily and I think she's got a fever."

Willow, Xander, and Giles stopped the moment they saw Buffy. And just stood there, staring.

"They had something they were injecting her with," Buffy continued, fumbling to open the bedroom door. "I think it's what made her like this. I heard her screaming."

"Um, Buffy?" said Willow, venturing to follow the two of them as they entered the secured bedroom.

Buffy draped the sick girl onto the bed. "Get, I dunno, medicine or something," said Buffy, throwing a blanket across her patient. "And secure the doors. I don't want her getting out."

"Buffy," Giles tried.

Buffy swung around. "She's still a person," Buffy insisted. "Like Xander said. Elizabeth might be insane, but she's still me."

"Yeah," Xander agreed. He pointed at the girl on the bed. "But that's not Elizabeth."

Buffy froze. Staring at them. "Huh?"

"It's not," Willow agreed.

"Certainly," said Giles.

Buffy looked back at the girl. Then at her friends. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, for one thing," said Xander, "Elizabeth doesn't have freckles."


	4. Chapter 4

Hartman picked up the empty gas canister. Sniffed it. "Retcon Knock Out gas," she muttered. Just her luck. No one affected by it would remember a thing.

"The alien," said Dr. Gretterman. "She's gone. Escaped."

"And already dying," said Hartman. "You gave her both injections?"

Dr. Gretterman checked the vials. Both empty. "The fast-acting and the delayed poison," Dr. Gretterman said, showing them to Hartman. "From that Bawexa Battle Ship. I must have delivered them both before the alien escaped."

"Then the alien won't survive the hour," said Hartman, "and even if she does, she won't get through the night."

"You don't think," Dr. Gretterman proposed, "that some of those anomalies we detected might make her able to... survive that kind of poison?"

Hartman gave an angry sigh. "Do _you_ want to look through London for her?"

Dr. Gretterman bit her lower lip. "Point taken."

Hartman spun on her heel, and marched back to the control room. She was sick and tired of dealing with the idiot alien that had come through the rift. The results of the ghost shift were in, and it was time to check on that Sphere.

* * *

Buffy put a damp washcloth against the girl's forehead. The girl — her skin red and feverish — shivered.

"Are you sure?" asked Buffy. "I mean, she looks almost exactly like me."

"Yeah, but Elizabeth looked _exactly_ exactly like you," said Xander.

Willow squinted at the girl's face. "I mean, if you really look hard at her, there are some minor differences. Like, lighter skin, differenty shaped eyebrows, and... you know. The freckles."

"She does share Buffy's name," said Giles. "Perhaps this is yet another Buffy from yet another world."

Willow reached down, and took the girl's wrist. Eyes on the clock. Counting the pulse.

"I told you," said Buffy, "her pulse is weak, but steady."

"You have to keep checking it," said Willow. "In case it changes." She waited a few seconds, then dropped the hand. "Or... doesn't change, I guess."

"I know hospitals are out of the question, with Torchwood trying to track her down, but... shouldn't we call for a doctor or something?" asked Xander.

"The last time I called for a doctor while I was hiding out from a heavily armed insane militia group, he turned into a Hell Goddess who almost ended the world," said Buffy. "I'm sticking to home remedies, this time."

"Perhaps Harkness...?" Giles ventured.

Buffy shook her head. "Better not to talk to him until Hartman's forgotten about all of this."

"The girl's sick," said Willow, checking the girl's other vital signs, "but I don't think she's getting any worse. We might actually be able to deal with this one, ourselves."

Buffy nodded, reaching over to brush a strand of hair out of the girl's face. A sorrow overcoming her, as she thought of this whoever-she-was, kidnapped and probably tortured by Torchwood, nearly killed just before Buffy showed up. And — if this really _wasn't_ Elizabeth — the girl probably didn't deserve it.

Lying here, feverish and weak, the girl looked so... young. No older than 15, Buffy thought. Early adolescence. So defenseless. So fragile.

The girl who had Buffy's name. And almost Buffy's face.

Buffy took the girl's hand in her own. "I'll get you through this," she whispered. "I promise."

* * *

"I am not 'feeling ignored'," Dawn protested, loudly, over the phone. "People _are_ ignoring me. I mean, I called you, like, fifty times, and this is the first time you've picked up!"

Buffy wiped at her eyes, and glanced over at the clock. Three in the morning. Yeah, Buffy was pretty sure she knew why she hadn't answered those other calls.

One of these days, Buffy needed to get Dawn an enormous, wall-sized poster saying, 'REMEMBER THE TIME DIFFERENCE BEFORE YOU CALL BUFFY' in glowing neon letters.

"I even told you to send me a text when Willow and Xander got in," said Dawn. "And nothing! For days, now!"

Damn. Buffy had completely forgotten to finish that.

"There've sort of been... a lot of things happening around here," Buffy said, her speech still tripped up by the vestiges of sleep.

"Ghost-related things?" Dawn sighed. "I don't get why everyone's so worked up about these ghosts. We got stuff like this all the time back in Sunnydale. I mean, yawn!"

"The stuff in Sunnydale didn't cause ghosts to appear all over the world," Buffy reminded her sister.

"Yeah, but it's not a far stretch," said Dawn. "I keep telling everyone — this is just some evil demon whatever army thing, trying to end the world and kill everyone. Like it always is. But no one listens to me."

Buffy, feeling her eyes sagging closed, and herself slumping in her spot on the chair beside the unconscious mystery girl's bed, was pretty much on the verge of not listening to Dawn herself, when the unconscious mystery girl suddenly twitched, violently, and gasped for air.

Buffy jerked awake, and swore, loudly.

"What?" asked Dawn.

"Call you back," said Buffy, hanging up, and clonking her cell phone onto the night side table.

The girl was struggling for breath, her every gasp more desperate, her arms clawing weakly at the air before her, as if trying to find something to cling to.

Buffy grabbed her wrist, and checked her pulse. It was still weak, but, now, it was anything but steady.

"Willow!" Buffy shouted. "Giles! Xander!" She checked the girl's forehead, and... no, that wasn't Buffy's imagination. The fever had increased — skyrocketed. It was like everything that Buffy knew could go wrong was going wrong, and she had no idea how to fix it.

Damn, she wished she had one of those bleepy heart monitor things. Or... actual medical training. Or even basic medical training, come to think of it.

(Benjy had. He'd always been teasing her about it. And now, he was dead.)

The others raced into the room, asking a million questions, and soon able to see the answers to most of them immediately.

Willow turned to Giles. "Ice!" she instructed. "Like, for an ice bath or something. We've got to make her fever go down."

Giles gave an officious nod, then raced from the room.

"Xander, take her pulse," said Willow, grabbing a flashlight and a Popsicle stick (which, as Xander had pointed out, was almost exactly like a tongue depressor, except it tasted like artificially flavored cherries). "Buffy, try to calm her down. I have to see what's wrong with her throat."

Xander took the girl's wrist, trying to count. His face looked worried.

"Racing," Xander said.

Willow, in the meantime, shone the flashlight into the girl's mouth, as she weakly struggled to stay alive.

"It looks kind of... puffy and..." Willow trailed off, wishing that she had watched more hospital-related soap operas. Because she had absolutely no idea what she was seeing, or what it meant.

"Willow," said Xander.

Giles burst into the room, a tray of ice cubes in his hands. "This was all I had on hand," he said. "But I did locate the Gem of Atuzala, which was said to once heal a hundred people in a single day."

"Willow," Xander tried again.

"Admittedly," Giles continued, displaying the large yellow gemstone for them, "it was done beside both the Sunnydale Hellmouth and a statue of the Virgin Mary, but I thought..."

"Willow!" Xander shouted.

Everyone looked over at Xander. Then noticed that the girl had fallen silent. Still. Not a gasp, not a struggle, not even a breath.

(And that pale, lifeless face, so much like Benjy's...)

Buffy shoved the others out of the way, and began compressing the girl's chest. Then pinched the nose and breathed into the mouth. And again. And again. And again.

Nothing.

"Buffy," said Willow, quietly, after a few minutes had gone by, "she's gone."

Buffy tried again. Compressions. Then breath. Waiting for the girl to recover, start breathing again. But... nothing.

Buffy pulled away. That pale, lifeless, terrified face in front of her... just like Benjy's had been, when Buffy had found him, a chunk taken out of his side and too much blood spilled across the ground — when she'd tried to save him, and had known, with every chest compression, that she was already too late...

Buffy curled her hands into fists, and with every shred of desperate, hollow anger inside of her, slammed her fists down on the dead girl's chest, screaming, "Damn it!"

The girl gasped.

Everyone in the room jumped.

Buffy, looking at the girl's pale face, slammed down her fists again — with just as much force as before. And again, the strained gasp.

"Breathe!" Willow shouted.

Plugging the nose, Buffy bent down, giving the girl a long, steady breath. The still feverish lips tingling against Buffy's own.

The girl coughed, violently, grabbing onto Buffy's arms with desperation. The weird tingling feeling intensified, just for a second. Then the girl fell back, her breathing growing steady, her hands loosening their grip.

"I think… we might have done it," said Willow. "The girl looks a lot better."

Giles squinted through the lamplight. "So does Buffy," he muttered. His eyes searching the places where Buffy had once been bruised and scraped, which now seemed healed and in perfect condition.

"Check for a pulse," Willow told Buffy.

Buffy nodded, and grabbed the girl's wrist, her eyes on the clock, as she checked it. Counted the beats. Then she froze. Her face turning blank.

"So? Is she normal?" Xander asked.

Buffy said nothing. Didn't move a muscle. But shifted her eyes to the unconscious girl. Studying her.

"Buffy?" asked Willow.

No answer.

"Buffy!" Willow said, a little louder.

Buffy started out of her reverie, glancing over her shoulder at Willow. Then seemed to register what they'd been asking her.

"Oh," said Buffy. "Normal." She dropped the wrist, her eyes back on the unconscious girl. "Yeah, she's…" Buffy paused. "…fine. Just... fine."

* * *

The girl slept for another whole day. Buffy and the others kept a rotation going. Making sure that someone was always nearby, keeping watch. Always perched near the bed. Always ready just in case the girl either took a turn for the worse, took a turn for the better, or suddenly sprung up and turned out to be a psychopathic killer.

The day the girl slept through had been drizzly and miserable. It was the kind of day that Buffy had grown to hate in London, the kind that seemed to stretch on and on, with miles of gray and dull and blah.

But the day after was beautiful. Sunny. Cheerful. As if the Earth had peaked out from beneath the clouds, excitement in its eyes and laughter in its voice, and stretched out its hand in invitation to the other planets to play and have fun.

This was the kind of day — with soft sunlight, cool, gusty winds, and the last remnants of rain sparkling silver across the streets — that Buffy missed from California. The kind that made her want to toss away whatever she was doing, and run outside.

But, of course, with the unconscious Torchwood escapee still in Giles' house, that wasn't going to happen.

Xander had been out. And back. Now, he had his brand new cell phone in hand, and was squinting at the display, trying to comprehend it, as he poked and prodded at buttons.

"Well, I mean, you don't _have_ to register the SIM card on the network," Willow explained. "If you don't, Archangel will give you a default. But there are all these extra features if you fill out a profile and stuff. It's completely worth doing."

Xander just nodded, continuing to poke and prod.

Buffy, from her spot sitting at the far side of the room, rested her leg against the nearby dresser, so she could lean her chair backwards, balancing it on its two hind legs.

Xander grinned, in triumph, as he finished, hitting the green talk button to submit his information. "Got it! User profile filled out."

"Great," said Willow. "Now, you just need to—"

The rustle of bed sheets, then a sudden burst of movement from their right, as the unconscious girl on the bed bolted upright, eyes open wide. Looking around herself with bright, brown eyes.

"I made it," she breathed. American accent — but with a voice a titch higher than Buffy's. The girl glanced down at her hands. "I actually made it."

The light from the window beside her bed caught her eye, and she clambered across the bed sheets, kneeling before the window. Pressing her nose right up against the glass, sunlight streaming across her face and sparkling in her eyes.

"People!" she said, her voice an excited rush. "Trees! Cars!" She looked up. "The sky!"

"You're awa..." Willow hesitated. Then tried again. "I mean, are you okay? You've been pretty sick, and it was touch and go there for a while."

The girl turned, and as her eyes fell on Willow, her entire face seemed to light up.

"It's you!" she cried. "Willow!" She looked over. "And Xander! And… is that Giles?" She gave an excited laugh. "It is! I… I can't believe it! You're all here! And you look so... _different._ "

Buffy, from her spot on the chair behind the others, cleared her throat.

Willow and Xander stepped back, and the girl froze, as she met Buffy's eyes. As her happy excitement melted away into some deeper emotion, one that bled through her face and seeped into her eyes. She reached out, but pulled her hand back. Her mouth trying to form words, but no sound coming out.

" _You_ ," she said, at last.

"No, actually, my name's Buffy," said Buffy, thudding her chair down onto the ground. "Buffy Anne Summers. Same as yours, apparently." She crossed her arms. "Want to explain that?"

"My name isn't Buffy," the girl explained.

Willow, Xander, Giles, and Buffy all exchanged glances. Then turned back to the girl.

"So you're… not Buffy?" Giles checked. "Not a Buffy from some other timeline? Not a Buffy from some other world? Not any Buffy whatsoever?"

The girl grinned. "Of course not!" She pointed at Buffy. "She's Buffy. Not me." Her grin widened into a smile. "I'm Seo!"

"Seiyo," Xander repeated. He gave a slow nod. "Uh-huh. You're named after a Japanese boy's school."

"I'm not named after a Japanese anything," said Seo. "It's short for Seosyrae. It's what my father always called me, and I like it."

"If you're not me, then why'd you give my name to Torchwood?" Buffy demanded, getting up from her chair and advancing on the girl. "Why'd you try to pretend you were me?"

"You're an American citizen," Seo told her. "And Torchwood wouldn't believe me when I said I was one, too."

Xander scratched his head, confused. "So… you gave them Buffy's name, and not yours…"

"Because she's not an American citizen at all," said Buffy. "She just wanted them to think she was, so they'd let her go."

"I _am_ an American citizen," said Seo. "They just might have trouble finding my birth certificate. At the moment." She glanced at the room around her. "What year is this, anyways?"

Buffy blinked. Then blinked again. Then took a step backwards, her face going pale.

"2007," Giles supplied.

Seo's face fell. "I guess I undershot," she said. "I was aiming for about a half decade before that." Then looked back up, and beamed at them. "But that's alright! I'm free, I've escaped, and now that I can do whatever I want, I don't care what year it is. 2007 or 1547 or 3029, Sunnydale or no Sunnydale or whatever — it's all the same to me!" Her eyes rested on the yellow gemstone still lying on top of the dresser, where Giles had set it, two days ago. "Ooh, shiny!"

And in a flash, she'd jumped out of bed, and was racing towards the gemstone, hand outstretched. Giles, horrified, dove forwards and scooped it out of the way before Seo could get her hands on it.

"Don't touch that!" Giles scolded her. "It could be terribly dangerous!"

Seo's eyes lit up, as she thought the matter through. Then, with a discreet glance around at the others, she pasted on a sheepish grin, followed by wide, innocent eyes.

"I'm sorry," said Seo. "I thought it was pretty."

Giles placed the gemstone down on the night side table beside him. "Pretty," he muttered. "One of the most powerful artifacts in the western world, and she thinks it's 'pretty'."

Seo clasped her hands behind her back, and dropped her head down, shamefaced. "I just like pretty-looking things," she said, in a quiet voice. "That's all."

Willow peered at Seo, curiously. "Seo," she said. "How old are you?"

"Seventeen," Seo replied. "Why?"

Buffy assumed Willow's answer would be something along the lines of, 'Well, you sure don't act it,' but Willow instead opted for the much more diplomatic, "Nothing. Just curious."

Seo gave Willow a completely blank look, as if the entire subtext of the conversation had completely gone over her head. But she obviously knew enough to understand that she'd done something wrong, because she cringed, and stepped away from them. Her eyes drifting over to Buffy, a hint of panic in their depths.

A look of 'help me' carved across her features.

It was Xander, in the end, that gave her a friendly smile and a way out. "You know, when I get sick, I always feel really hungry after I get better," he said. "And you've been on the zilcho diet for two days, now. But Giles has a pretty big kitchen, and…"

Seo's eyes widened, her entire body humming with excitement. "Food!" she cried. "You have food! And a kitchen! I love food and kitchens."

She bolted forwards with happy excitement, and with a loud 'smack', ran right into the wall at the far end of the room. Seo stumbled backwards, hands rubbing her face. "Ow."

"Door's over here," said Xander, trying to lead Seo towards the correct exit to the room.

Seo raced forwards, and with another loud 'smack', ran right into the wall beside the night side table. She held her head, cringing, then turned and raced outside, running smack into the far wall of the corridor outside the room.

Seo glared at the corridor wall, angrily. "You're not supposed to be there," she reprimanded it. "I said I wanted to go to the kitchen. Kit-chen!"

Then she deliberately walked right into the wall, again.

She frowned, and reached out to touch the wall, inspecting it with her fingertips. Her frown deepened. "Still not the kitchen." She turned to Giles, as he and the others emerged into the hallway behind her. "I think your house is broken," she told him. "You should get someone in to fix it."

Xander took Seo by the shoulders, guiding her away from the wall, before she could run into it again. "Why don't I show you where the food is?" he said.

Seo, a little dazed, let Xander lead her down the corridor, towards the dining room and kitchen. Buffy watched the two of them, as they turned the corner and dropped out of sight.

"Oh, my God," Willow breathed. Then turned to Buffy, excitedly. "Seo's not you! Buffy, she's your—"

"Don't!" Buffy cut in.

"But she _is_!" Willow said. "She has to be. She's from the future. She looks like a younger version of you. She craves your love and affection. She knows all about you and where you grew up. Buffy, face it! Seo is definitely your—"

"No," Buffy said. "Willow, just… no. Really. Don't."

Willow grinned a knowing grin at Buffy.

From the kitchen, they could hear Seo giving an excited cry, rippling happiness through the air. A cry that sounded a little like she'd shouted, "Brilliant!"

"Don't!" Buffy warned Willow, again.

"I'm not saying anything," said Willow. She turned on her heel, and strode down towards the kitchen. "And I'm definitely not speculating about who the father could be."

"I said stop it," Buffy snapped back, as Willow disappeared into the kitchen. Buffy sighed, then went off to join the others. But stopped, as she caught something out of the corner of her eye.

She paused. Then re-entered the bedroom, examining the night side table where Giles had put the dangerous yellow crystal. The one Seo had tried to take, earlier. Before she'd begun walking into walls.

The crystal was gone.


	5. Chapter 5

"You've seriously never had chocolate before?" Xander asked. "Like, really?"

Seo's eyes were lit up with happy glee, as she munched on the chocolate bar. She raised it up to Xander. "I've never had anything that tastes like this. It's brilliant!"

Xander thought a future without chocolate was a bleak future indeed.

(He made a mental note to stockpile the stuff, for when the Choc-pocalypse happened. Wouldn't do to go into something like that unprepared.)

Giles cleared his throat, a little awkwardly. "Perhaps… chocolate is not the best medicine, at the moment."

"Yeah," said Willow, as she walked through the door into the kitchen. "Ease up on the chocolate, Seo. You'll make yourself sick."

Seo stopped eating the chocolate. Pulled the rest of the chocolate bar away, and analyzed it, turning it over and over again in her hands. "Chocolate makes people sick?" She sniffed it, her forehead creasing. "It's… poisonous," she guessed.

"Not poisonous," Giles explained, going over to the refrigerator and trying to produce something more nutritional. "But a surfeit of chocolate might prove detrimental to your health."

Xander, realizing that most people didn't speak Giles-ese, translated for Seo, "Too much chocolate all at once is bad for you."

"Oh," said Seo. She looked a little relieved, but mostly crestfallen, as she wrapped up the chocolate bar in its silver foil wrapper, and put it aside. "But I liked it."

"Most people do," said Willow. "That's why we've got serious problems with childhood obesity."

Seo's eyes lit up. "Other people like chocolate, too?" She picked up the chocolate bar, the hints of inspiration splashing across her face like watercolors across a canvas. She then bounced over to Willow, and extended the chocolate bar. "Do _you_ want some chocolate?"

Willow looked over at Xander, as if she couldn't quite believe that Seo was enough of an idiot that she wouldn't have worked out a concept like 'sharing' before. Xander was a little surprised, himself. He'd assumed that 'sharing' was why people went to kindergarten.

What else didn't Seo understand? Nap-time?

"Thanks, Seo," Willow said, breaking off a piece of chocolate from the bar.

Seo gave the most radiant smile ever. As if that action — Willow's taking the chocolate — had just lit up some fire inside of her. A fire of hope she'd never thought could be ignited.

Weird.

* * *

The sunlight trickled down through the streets, lingering upon the blond strands of Seo's hair, as she raced out into the open air. Her laughter echoing against the houses like the patter of light spring rain.

"Alive!" she shouted. She threw her arms up, and spun around, her eyes fixed on Xander — who still stood in the doorway of Giles' house. "Can't you feel it? The whole world, all around us! Six billion people, and they're living, on and on, day after day, bright and beautiful and able to do anything!"

Xander hesitated. Glanced back into the house, where the others were all discussing Seo in hushed voices. Then turned back to Seo.

He'd heard Willow say things like that. But he assumed that you could only feel the aliveness of the Earth when you were in the aftermath of a serious magical addiction problem — and also happened to be a witch powerful enough to be a minor deity.

"Yep, today's one of those mystical, magical days when the weatherman says it's sunny with no chance of rain in the middle of London," said Xander. "That's pretty special."

Seo's eyes sparkled, as she rushed back and grabbed Xander's hand, pulling him away from the house and onto the sidewalk. He opened his mouth to speak, but she shushed him. Gestured for him to listen.

So he waited. And listened to the not-so-distant London traffic. The rattle of the Tube beneath his feet. The wind as it whistled past the buildings.

"Just… feel it," Seo whispered, her hand squeezing around his. "The world. The Earth. Here, now — there's so much life, all around us. So much beauty. So many paths you could follow, so many options to choose! You could do anything. I could do anything! It's like…" She trailed off, her eyes wandering to a little boy across the street, who was running along the sidewalk, flying a kite. A sort of interested curiosity slid into her expression, as she fixed her eyes on the kite in the boy's hands.

Before Xander even knew what was happening, Seo was across the street, and leaning down, talking with the boy. Her every gesture animated, her every word a laugh and her every motion done with a sort of awkward grace.

"She seems like a nice kid," said Willow, approaching behind Xander. She stopped just beside him, analyzing Seo in the distance. "Too bad she's kind of an idiot."

Xander gave a small shrug. "Well, there's something to be said for keeping us idiots around," he said. Keeping his eyes fixed on Seo.

Across the street, the little boy was demonstrating to Seo how to get the kite to drift up in the air, and ride a current of wind. Seo clapped with joy as the boy managed to do it, her eyes drifting heavenwards to the soaring kite.

"Buffy's in the middle of a minor freak out," said Willow. "But I guess that's to be expected. With Seo showing up here and everything. A glimpse into Buffy's own future." She stared at Seo, curiously. "How old do you think Seo is?"

"Seventeen," said Xander. "She told us."

Willow shook her head. "There's no way she's seventeen," she said. "I mean, just look at her! I'd say she's fifteen, tops. And, with her maturity level what it is, fifteen might be pushing it."

Footsteps from behind them, and Buffy emerged, a stern expression on her face. Her eyes on Seo, her forehead creased, as if there was something big on her mind, and she couldn't get it off.

"Getting over the shock?" Willow asked.

Buffy blinked. Then glanced over at Willow. "Oh. Yeah. Just… thinking." She glanced down at her watch. Then back at Seo.

"About who her father might be?" asked Willow, with a growing grin.

"I said 'don't'," Buffy snapped. She glanced down at her watch, again. Tapped its surface. Frowned. "Huh. It's a little late, today."

"What's—" Xander started.

But at that moment, all around them, a myriad of ghost-like figures appeared, wandering around, their forms translucent and shimmering beneath the sunlight.

"Ghost shift," Buffy answered, her eyes fixing back on Seo.

Seo froze, the moment she saw the ghost-like figures. Her eyes following their every movement, her pupils darting from one ghost to the next, her expression clearly baffled. As if she were struggling to make sense of them.

"She hasn't seen the ghosts before?" Willow asked.

"Or she has," Buffy said, "and she knows something about them that we don't." She folded her arms, her eyes fixed on Seo. "I'm guessing those ghosts must have started showing up… right around when Seo did."

"And right around when Dawn started acting all ignorable," Xander put in.

Buffy continued to watch Seo.

Seo twirled around, looking every bit the lost, helpless girl she made herself out to be. But… there was something else, Buffy thought — something about Seo's eyes that seemed out-of-place with her actions. It was just the hint of a gleam in her eyes — the same kind of gleam that Willow had gotten back in high school, when she'd been trying to solve a tricky math problem, and was secretly enjoying the struggle of figuring it all out.

Then Seo's eyes rested on one of the ghosts. A ghost that stopped a few feet away from her. For a second, they both stood there, seemingly looking at one another — assessing each other, Buffy thought — Seo with a pensive frown.

Then, all color drained from her face. And she turned, and ran.

Buffy sprinted after her, but the girl was running full pelt, running as if her life depended on it, running as if she had seen something in the ghost that she'd recognized. Running past the end of the street, darting across the sidewalk and skidding to a stop, just in the middle of the road — where a handful more ghosts awaited her, on the other side.

Seo spun, looking from one side of the street to the other, seeing the ghosts everywhere. Her breath coming fast, panicky, as she stood stock still.

A car headed right towards her.

Buffy, without thinking, raced across the street and launched herself at Seo, arms extended, ready to push her out of the way. But before she got the chance…

Seo, one last glance at her surroundings, grabbed Buffy by the forearms and, waiting a half second, swung the both of them so that they rolled across an empty truck bed, bouncing off the hood of a slightly lower car, and collapsed, in a heap, on the sidewalk on the other end of the street.

"I… I saved you!" Seo said.

Buffy stared at her. Very, very hard.

"That's funny," Buffy replied, very quietly. "I thought _I_ was supposed to be saving _you_."

Seo started back from Buffy abruptly, her breath catching in her throat.

Willow and Xander rushed over. "Are you guys all right?"

Seo jumped to her feet, trying to hide her expression under a mask of complete happy innocence. But Buffy could tell — something had very clearly startled her. As if… she'd said something wrong. Given the game away, in a weak instant. Revealed her hand when she shouldn't have.

Seo beamed, spinning around to face Willow and Xander. She reached into her pocket and took out the remains of her candy bar.

"Chocolate?" she offered them.

* * *

"She's not an idiot," Buffy told the others, that afternoon, when she'd finally managed to shake Seo off and get some alone time with her friends. "She just wants us to think she is."

"Buffy," said Willow, with a sigh, "I'm sorry, but… you've talked to her. You've seen her. The way she acts, it's obvious she's got some… developmental issues."

"She ran out in front of a car, and just stared blankly at it," Xander pointed out. "You had to push her out of the way."

"No, _she_ pushed _me_ out of the way!" Buffy said. She paced up and down the living room, trying to expel her nervous energy. "Look, just… think about it. If you were really smart, but wanted everyone to think you were a total idiot who knew nothing about this planet or anything having to do with it, what'd be the first thing you did? Run out into the street, and almost get run over by a car."

"Actually, if it were me, I'd try to eat a clarinet," Xander offered.

"Yeah, or something else way less dangerous," Willow agreed. "Definitely not running into the street and almost getting hit by a car. I mean, if it went wrong, you could get seriously hurt."

"Not if you knew you could get out of it," Buffy said. "Seo did. I saw it, just before she grabbed me. She knew exactly what she was doing the whole time."

Giles gave a small sigh, wiping off his glasses as he leaned against the coffee table in the center of the room. "Buffy," he said. "I suppose it's only natural, given Seo's identity, that you'd feel the need to justify her mental shortcomings, but… there's no use in denying the truth. Seo is not an intelligent person."

"It happens," Willow told Buffy. "I mean, it doesn't say anything about you! Smart parents don't always produce smart kids. Sometimes, the children wind up being… mentally stunted."

Buffy smacked her head with her hand. "Don't get started on that, again!" she complained.

Xander, feeling a little lost, looked between Willow and Giles, hoping for hints. Finding none, he opted for, "Okay... I'm hoping at some point I'll get an explanation for what you're talking about?"

"It does seem increasingly likely," Giles told him, slipping his glasses back on his face, "that Seo is Buffy's daughter. From the future. She's traveled back through time, presumably to find Buffy, and arrived here, at a point in time before she was born."

Xander blinked. Then blinked again. "Seo is Buffy's _daughter_?!"

"No, she's not!" Buffy insisted. "She's some alien or demon or whatever that's pretending to be my daughter, so she can do some… I don't know. Bad, world-ending type stuff."

"Yeah, 'world ending'," Willow sighed. "Right now, she's down in the basement, trying to make a kite. Out of metal. That's some serious world-ending behavior right there."

Xander glanced off at the hallway, where Seo had disappeared. "Metal," he repeated. He shook his head, sadly. "She's going to be really disappointed, when her kite doesn't fly."

"Oh, come on!" said Buffy, throwing up her hands in exasperation. "Seo is _not_ stupid! If she was stupid, how'd she manage to time travel here in the first place? Because, in case you hadn't noticed, time travel isn't just something any idiot can do!"

"Well, maybe her father—" Willow started.

Buffy turned on her friend, eyes dark. "Will, I said, 'don't'!"

Willow gave an innocent shrug. "I'm not saying anything."

"Look, I'm not putting down idiots," said Xander to Buffy. "But Seo does always walk into walls. And she keeps picking up dangerous stuff just because it looks pretty or shiny."

"Yeah, and I bet the 'dangerous' stuff she picks up is all insanely powerful," Buffy said. "It's obvious. She keeps picking it up because she's planning something, and she's pretending she's stupid so we won't realize. That's why she's been stealing your magical gemstones!"

The others looked at Buffy, skeptically.

Buffy spun around, and marched towards the guest bedroom. "You want proof?" she called back. She gestured at them to follow her. "I'll give you proof!"

The door to the bedroom was locked, as it had been since that morning, but Buffy forced the door easily, and burst into the room.

"See?" Buffy asked, pointing at the night side table. "No one's been in here since this morning, and now Giles' yellow healing gem thing is gone. Seo walked into that wall to distract us while she stole it, and…"

"You mean the yellow healing gem thing that's lying on the night side table?" Willow asked.

Buffy blinked. And stared at the night side table.

Willow was right.

The yellow gemstone was back where it'd been, earlier that morning. Back where Giles had set it down. Buffy walked over to it, crouching down, analyzing it in detail. Same exact gemstone. Not a replacement or a plastic/glass replica or anything.

"She put it back," Buffy told the others. "She must have."

"Put what back?" asked a voice from behind them.

They turned, and found Seo standing nearby, her 'kite' in her hands. A kite that looked a lot more like a bunch of tin coffee cans, soup cans, and coke cans bolted together, covered with glued-on sparkles and decorations. The only thing to suggest it was supposed to be a kite was the long string attached to one end, and the tail attached to the other.

She looked at the crowd, an expression of pure innocence on her face.

Buffy charged at her. "You!" she shouted. "Why did you steal Giles' gemstone? What do you want?"

Seo glanced over at the gemstone, then caught herself, and snapped her eyes back to Buffy. "What gemstone?"

"The one you stole and then put back before anyone else noticed it was missing!" Buffy roared.

The others reached out to restrain Buffy, before she could grab up the poor, frightened girl and shove her against the wall of the room, threatening her to her face.

"Who are you?" Buffy demanded. "What are you doing, here? Why do you look like me?"

Seo seemed puzzled. "I look like you?" She grabbed the ends of her own blond hair, and examined them, carefully. Then examined Buffy's hair. "It does look kind of similar," she noted.

Trying to play the idiot. Again!

Buffy lunged out for Seo, who squeaked, and darted out of the way before Buffy could grab her. Seo tried to hide behind Xander, her eyes fixed on Buffy, clutching her kite tightly.

"Maybe… I should take Seo off, somewhere, to fly her kite," Xander proposed, to the others. "Get her out of the house, and give Buffy some time to cool off."

"Good idea," said Willow, still trying to drag Buffy away from Seo.

"There's a park several blocks that way," Giles told Xander, pointing. "And the wind is quite goo…" His eyes fell on Seo's kite, and he winced. "…I mean bad," he tried, instead, "so there's very little chance the kite will fly, anyways. No matter how it's constructed."

"Of course it'll fly," Seo informed Giles, terribly seriously. "That's why I built a kite. If I wanted something that wouldn't fly, I'd have built a rock."

Xander, seeing Buffy's rage flaring up, once more, grabbed Seo by the arm with an uneasy laugh, and tugged her towards the front door.

"Don't come back too soon!" Willow called after them, as they left.

Buffy calmed, the moment Seo was gone. Glaring at the spot where Seo had just been.

"Buffy—" Willow started.

Buffy didn't let her finish. She strode into the front room, and thunked open Giles' research books. "The ghosts," Buffy muttered. "She's got to have something to do with the ghosts. She's _got_ to!"

* * *

"So," said Xander, putting his hands in his pockets and trying to seem as nonchalant as possible. "You're Seosear… something…"

"Seosyrae," Seo corrected.

"Seosyrae," Xander amended. He glanced over at the girl with the almost Buffy-looking features. "Seosyrae Summers?" he guessed.

Seo swung her kite with every step. "Just Seosyrae."

"Seosyrae… Pratt?" Xander guessed, again. Oh, that would sting, if Buffy wound up marrying Spike.

"Just Seosyrae," Seo repeated.

"Don't tell me it's Seosyrae Harris," said Xander. That would be weird.

Seo looked over at him, curiously. "No, really. I'm not 'Seosyrae Anything'. I'm just 'Seosyrae'."

"Oh," said Xander. He scratched his head. "So… you don't have a last name at all."

Seo laughed, sunlight sparkling through her eyes. "Of course I have a last name!" she said. "I also have a first name. But neither begins with 'Seosyrae'."

Xander stumbled on the sidewalk. "What?"

"I told you," said Seo. "I'm from Earth. My real name's an Earth name. Seosyrae is just a substitute name."

Xander stared at her. Trying to work out everything in his head. Everything that this particular statement implied. That Seo was born on Earth, like there'd been some kind of choice about somewhere else she could have been born. That Seosyrae _wasn't_ an Earth name. That Seo had been lying to them all about her name since she showed up…

"So what's your real name?" Xander asked her.

Seo grinned at him. "Rumplestiltskin!" she replied. Then grabbed his arm, and tugged him towards the park, which had just come into view ahead of them. "Now come on! It's time to fly kites!"

* * *

Xander watched as Seo set down the 'kite' on a paved section of the park, unraveling the long string as she walked slowly away from it. Xander grimaced.

"Uh, I think you get it up in the air, before you unravel the string all the way," Xander said. Then realized that had been a stupid thing to say, since obviously, the 'kite' in question was never going to _get_ into the air.

"Not with my kite you don't!" Seo called back to him.

Xander had been trying to think through all the excuses he could use when Seo's kite completely failed to get off the ground. Anything he could say that wouldn't hurt this girl's feelings. But she seemed so completely certain that the kite would fly, he knew that there was nothing he could do to soften the blow.

"Maybe I should throw it up into the air," Xander proposed. "Let it catch the wind."

He leaned down to pick it up. Then buckled under its weight, as it thunked back to the ground with a loud bang.

"I wouldn't advise it!" Seo called back to him — quite a distance away, now.

Xander stared at the coffee-can creation. The cans were mostly sealed, true, but Xander had still assumed they'd be empty. What had Seo used to fill up…?

No, wait. Wrong question.

How the hell had Seo been able to lift this 'kite' as if it weighed nothing? Only someone really strong, like Buffy, would be able to…

Oh.

"Buffy's kid," Xander muttered. "Right."

Xander didn't get how Slayer genetics worked, but Seo was starting to give him a basic idea. She'd clearly inherited her mom's super-strength. And who knew what else.

"Xander!" Seo called. "Can you clear the blast site, please?"

"Blast site?" asked Xander.

"It'll be about a meter and a half radius surrounding the kite," Seo clarified. She had knelt down, by the far end of the string, fiddling with something in her hands.

Xander looked around himself. A meter and a half? How was he supposed to know how far a meter and a half was? Damn metric system.

Then turned back to Seo. Hang on. How did _she_ know how far a meter and a half was?

"You're not Canadian or something?" he called back.

"What?" asked Seo. She glanced up at him, puzzled.

"Meters!" Xander called back to her.

Seo's face illuminated, as she realized what he meant. "Oh! It's about 5 feet. Okay, more like 4 feet, 11 inches. 4 feet, 11 inches, and 1/64th of an inch extra."

Xander slowly nodded. About. Not a-boot. So… not Canadian. Did Americans go metric at some point in the future? Xander shrugged it off, deciding to puzzle over all the various crazy implications of this, later. And just do what she said, now. Ushering people away from the area around the 'kite', and trying to ignore the funny looks they kept giving him.

Then there was a booming sound from behind him, and Xander turned, just in time to see the 'kite' in question blast off from the ground with tin-can rocket boosters, the fuel burning up the kite's tail (but not the long rope, which was weird), soaring into the sky towards the clouds and then, as the fuel cut off…

The kite hovered, in the air. Not moving. Like a cartoon coyote who'd run out past the edge of a canyon, and hadn't yet looked down to realize he was standing on thin air.

Seo, who had tied the end of the long, un-singed kite-rope to — what looked like — a remote controller, beamed at Xander. Her face showing almost a childlike wonder, at this completely impossible thing she'd built. Which had flown.

But wasn't a kite.

Xander ran over to her. "That's… that's not a kite!" he said. He pointed. "That's a rocket!"

"Of course it's a kite!" said Seo. She pressed a few buttons, then grabbed at the rope with both hands and ran, full pelt, through the park. The 'kite', behind her, floated lazily through the air, bobbing with her every step, twisting and turning in the wind as if it were actually… well… a _kite_.

"See?" said Seo, as she looped around and arrived back at Xander. She tugged the rope, making the kite bob up and down in the air. "Kite."

Xander felt his jaw drop. And wasn't really sure when he'd get the chance to pick it up again.

The crowd that had gathered around the 5-foot radius area, watching, since the initial takeoff, all broke out into applause. Seo, noticing them for the first time, looked supremely proud of herself. She waved at them all, and gave a little bow.

"How'd you make it fly like that, then?" asked a man from the crowd, as he approached Seo, pointing at the kite.

"Oh, it's easy!" Seo said. "It's all a matter of prefixes."

"Prefixes?" asked a woman, also approaching Seo.

"The kite has all kinds of forces acting against it, making it unable to hover like this," Seo explained. "Gravity and heaviness and aerodynamics and things like that. But then I realized that all I had to do was to build a kite that would stick the prefix 'anti-' onto the front of those forces, and it'd cancel them out!"

Xander felt completely lost. "Huh?"

"It was heavy, so I stuck an 'anti-' on the beginning of the heavy, and turned it 'anti-heavy'," Seo told him, as if this explanation made perfect sense. "Gravity made it fall down, so I just turned it into 'anti-gravity', and it could hover."

Xander stared at the kite. Feeling he was missing something.

"And it wouldn't move in the wind, of course, because it was anti-aerodynamically designed," Seo continued, and Xander could hear a small tap of buttons being pressed. "So I stripped away the 'anti-', and it became aerodynamic."

Xander turned back to Seo, his next question on his lips, but it died, as he noticed what she was doing. That she'd quietly slipped a small section of casing off the back of the remote control, and was frantically pressing buttons and taking in the results as they flickered across a tiny built-in display — her expression suddenly deadly serious.

She realized he was looking at her, and shot him a small smile.

"What's that?" Xander asked, pointing at the secret control panel she'd just opened up. "The… prefix… putter-onner and taker-offer?"

Seo looked at him as if he were insane. "Don't be silly," she said, tapping at a few more controls. Then glancing around herself, a little nervously. "Prefix putter-onner and taker-offer? There's no such thing."

"But you just said…"

"This changes the color," Seo explained — taking another, more nervous and jumpy glance around herself. Then pressed a button on the hidden control panel.

Xander squinted up at the kite, trying to make out its color, despite the glare of the sun across its metal exterior. "It looks the same color to me."

"I never said it changed it very dramatically," Seo replied. Her voice had started to tremble, very slightly, now.

Xander looked back at her, and discovered she'd already replaced the section of casing she'd previously removed, and was now, once more, using the front side of the remote control. But there was something wrong with her, something very visibly wrong. She was breathing a little too heavily, her hands clutching the remote a little too tightly, and she kept looking around herself, uncomfortably.

A large crowd had surrounded them, many of the spectators shouting at Seo, others pushing to try to get closer to her and see what she was doing, a few still looking up into the sky and staring at the kite — bobbing merrily in the wind.

"Is this a publicity stunt?" someone shouted. "An advertising campaign?"

"If you're selling one of those, I'll buy twelve!" another offered.

"How does it work?" a few others shouted, over the first two.

Seo looked over at Xander, and he could see, in her eyes, the terrified look of someone who'd bitten off far more than she could chew, and had only just realized it.

Someone tried to grab the remote out of her hands, and Seo shrieked, trying to jump away and colliding with a middle-aged woman, both of them toppling to the ground. Xander tried to reach out to help Seo, but it seemed that others had already had the same idea, and were extending hands to assist her.

The hands seemed to make Seo even more nervous, her breath coming far too rapidly, her eyes truly terrified, now.

"Seo…" Xander started.

But Seo grabbed the remote, and slammed her fist down on a big red button at the top. In the sky, the 'kite' exploded into a beautiful, fireworks-esque display of twinkling lights and fast-fading images. Everyone's eyes turned back to the sky, as they all cheered and applauded.

Xander looked around for Seo. But she'd taken advantage of the distraction.

And run.


	6. Chapter 6

He found her, a short ways away, sitting in the shade of a large tree, her back against its trunk. She was in the process of disassembling the kite remote control.

"So," said Xander, sitting next to her. "'Changed the color'? You could have come up with a better lie than that."

Seo said nothing. Just continued disassembling the remote, stuffing electrical devices into her pockets. She still looked a little shaken, and her breathing hadn't quite gone back to normal.

"What did it really do?" Xander asked.

Still, no answer.

After a few minutes, Xander resigned himself to the fact that he just _wasn't_ going to get an answer from Seo. Tried to think what he could ask next, which wasn't something really pointed like, 'Buffy was right when she said you weren't an idiot, and I, for one, think you're up to something.'

"People can be scary," Seo told him, in a very quiet voice.

Xander snapped his head around, a little confused. "Huh?"

"I didn't think it'd be like that," Seo confessed. "All those… people..." Her hands shook a little more. "I've never been around that many people at once, before."

Xander stared at her. "There weren't that many," he said. "It was just, like, twenty people, or something."

Seo nodded. "I know."

Xander felt his mind racing, trying to put all the clues together. "Wait, you mean, in your whole life, you've never been around more than twenty…?"

"I was… very…" Seo hesitated, searching for the right word, "…sheltered. As a kid."

She stuffed the remaining pieces of the remote into her pockets, and stared down at her empty hands, a terribly sad, lonely expression planted across her features.

Geeze. Xander knew that Buffy had been overprotective of Dawn, making sure that she didn't go up against the monsters and stuff, but _this_ seemed excessive even for Buffy! What had future-Buffy done to this kid?

"Didn't you go to school, or sneak out of the house, or…?" Xander started.

Seo, in an instant, turned around and grabbed his face, positioning it so she could stare deep into his eyes. No. Not 'eyes'. Just his left one…

"It's glass," said Seo.

Xander managed to extract himself from her grip, and scooted a little farther away. "Yeah. Yeah, it is."

Seo's brow furrowed, in bewilderment, as she seemed to chew this over. "Why?"

"Because a few years ago, an evil preacher named Caleb gouged out my real eye," Xander snapped. He was still a little bitter about the subject. "What's it to you?"

Seo said nothing for a few long moments, letting the wind gust through her hair, her hands drifting back down to her sides.

"Oh."

Xander crossed his arms. He had expected at least an, 'I'm sorry', but, nope! Nothing. He huffed.

Then realized that Seo was staring at him. A completely unreadable expression on her face.

"You are so, so brave," Seo whispered, real awe in her voice. She shook her head. "I don't understand how you can do it."

Xander almost jumped at this. Because it was, first of all, not even remotely what he'd expected her to say, and, second of all, starting to come dangerously close to a pick-up line.

(And if Seo tried to flirt with him, then, based on past experience alone, Xander was betting she was a demon. Because women who liked Xander always wound up being demons.)

"Just living on, even though you have something like that…" Seo reached up to her own left eye. "If it were me," she confessed, "I'd have killed myself, by now."

Okay. Scratch pick-up-line. And move onto seriously bipolar.

"It's not… actually… that bad," Xander assured her. "Losing an eye. Besides the depth perception thing, it's more or less like normal, two-eyed life. Nothing to get… suicidal over."

"Is it really suicide?" Seo asked. "If you have a really good reason, I mean. If you lost an eye, or a hand, or your legs, or… or if you were paralyzed, and could never move again! Killing yourself, then, wouldn't be suicide at all, would it?"

"Being fully paralyzed is kind of different from losing your eye," Xander told her. Hoping that would end the conversation. Since he really didn't want to get into a debate about assisted suicide with someone like Seo.

Seo gave a small shrug, and a smile. "I've often thought about killing myself," she told him. Then laughed. "I actually tried it, once. But Dad caught me, and made me stop. He got really, really mad at me about that."

"You… actually tried… to kill yourself?" Xander asked. Now starting to feel seriously alarmed. Okay. Maybe this was why Buffy had decided to isolate her kid. Because the kid was seriously emotionally unstable.

"Well, in my own defense," Seo put in, a little hurriedly, "when I did it, I was feeling… really, really…" she hesitated, searching for the right word, "…bored."

"You tried to kill yourself because you were _bored_?!" Xander cried, before he could stop himself.

"You can do a lot of things when you're bored," Seo insisted. "Like, this one time, I was so bored, I memorized the entire US Constitution — plus all 95 amendments — so that I could recite it flawlessly. Word for word. Backwards."

"You what?" asked Xander.

"Well, it was either that, or paint my room so I could watch the paint dry," said Seo. "But that was starting to get old."

Xander shook his head. "No, I mean…" He grasped for something he could use to justify his flusteredness, besides Seo's serious mood swing, "…95 amendments? There aren't 95 amendments…"

"Not yet," said Seo. Her eyes glowed with excitement. "My favorites are the amendments that were added in after the Second Great Zombie Uprising." She sat up straight and tall, and, in a serious voice, "As the Constitution says, 'Lavivrus nwo rieht erusne ot eussit niarb namuh fo noitsegid eht no yler ohw esoht ot dednetxe ton era nam fo sthgir eth.'"

"What?"

"It's backwards for, 'The rights of man are not extended to those who rely on the digestion of human brain tissue to ensure their own survival,'" Seo explained.

Oh, yeah. Because she'd memorized the US Constitution… backwards. For some reason. Uh-huh.

Xander was half-tempted to drag Seo back to Giles', shove her in front of Buffy, and tell everyone exactly what Seo had just said and done — from the kite to the confession about the suicide attempt. Just let them deal with this… emotionally unstable, semi-insane girl that happened to look a lot like Buffy.

The other part of him was pretty sure Buffy wouldn't believe a word of this, and would bear down on Seo until she ran off and tried to kill herself again.

Okay. Just… keep her calm, Xander. Keep her… non-suicidey.

He forced a grin onto his face. "Well, we normal people just stick to memorizing the Constitution forwards," he told her. "Or… not memorizing it at all, and writing it down on our hands when we think there's going to be a pop quiz, back when we're in high school."

The smile faltered on Seo's face, as she looked away. Stared off into the distance. "Normal people," she repeated.

Uh, oh. Had Xander just said something wrong?

But in a second, all traces of sadness had disappeared from Seo's face, and she grinned at him, her eyes dancing with excitement. "Do you have a mobile?"

"A what?" asked Xander.

"A… cell phone," Seo corrected. "Mobile telephone. Handy."

Xander felt his mind spinning, but reached into his pocket, and handed her his cell.

She snatched it out of his hands, and jabbed at a button, seemingly at random. The display lit up, with the Archangel logo, and the brand new Archangel personalized greeting.

"Thought I detected something out there," Seo muttered, almost too faintly to make out.

"Huh?"

"What's 'Archangel'?" Seo inquired, in a louder, more innocent-sounding voice.

Xander hesitated, then decided there was no harm in telling her. "It's a cell phone network," he said. "Designed by this super genius English guy, Harold Saxon. It just launched a little while ago."

Seo nodded. But said nothing.

"It's a fad, I guess," said Xander. Because he wasn't sure what else to do, but just kept feeling like there shouldn't be some long, awkward silence. "Willow's really into it. She says eventually, all cell phone networks will be carried by Archangel, but, you know, these things don't happen all at once. Saxon's got most of the ones in England, I guess, but… not… other places. Or something."

Still, no words from Seo.

Xander gave a little shrug. "Like I said. Willow's kind of the Archangel enthusiast. Or, actually, the Harold Saxon enthusiast. Will says that if Harold Saxon was a woman, she'd totally make a pass at him. I mean, I don't…"

"Why's it called 'Archangel'?" Seo cut in.

Xander frowned. Then shook his head. "Huh?"

"Why _Arch_ angel?" asked Seo. "Why not call it, 'Gabriel,' or 'Messenger of God,' or… just… 'Good Angel'?"

"I don't think Saxon came up with the name himself," Xander told Seo. "The other companies dubbed it 'Archangel', back before the satellites got launched. Because, you know, they thought it'd cost them business. Saxon thought it was funny, and adopted the name." Xander grinned. "He's a good guy, that Saxon. If he were running for president, I'd vote for him."

"You can't," said Seo, without looking up from her button-pushing. "Article 2, Section 1 of the US Constitution. 'Tnediserp fo eciffo eht elbigile eb llahs nezitic nrob larutan a tpecxe nosrep on.'"

"What?"

"'No person except a natural born citizen shall be eligible to the Office of President,'" Seo said, as if it were obvious. "You said Harold Saxon was English. Therefore, he can't be president."

Xander shrugged. "Yeah, well, if Arnold Schwarzenegger ran for president, I'd probably vote for him, too," he said. "Article whatever Section whatever be damned."

Seo didn't seem terribly interested in what he had to say. She stopped pressing buttons, and was staring intently at whatever was printed on the screen of Xander's phone. Then she sighed, pressed the red 'end' button, and handed it back to Xander.

"Useless," Seo sighed.

Xander took back the phone. Archangel? Useless? Okay… then…

"Useless for what?" Xander asked, a little warily, shoving it into his pocket.

A pensive frown on her face, Seo stared up at the sky. A very sad gleam in her eyes, for just a second — or was that a trick of the light?

"Are you going to tell the others?" asked Seo, without looking at Xander. "About… my kite?"

Xander had been planning on it, yeah.

"Let me guess — you don't want me to," said Xander. "Because you're up to something, and you don't want Buffy and the others to know about your little scheme thing."

"No, I just… don't think I'm supposed to be building wildly anachronistic devices in an archaic time period," Seo told him. "And especially not when I show them off in public." She shot him a guilty smile. "It was fun, though. Wasn't it?"

Xander had to admit that, actually, as kite-flying went, it was a lot cooler than he'd expected. He nodded.

"Better when there's someone else around, too," Seo continued. "To share it with. Someone…" She paused, a flush rising to her cheeks. "…who… I trust. A lot."

Xander blinked. "Wait, what?"

Seo looked away, unable to meet his eyes. "Nothing."

Xander hesitated. Trying to figure out what he was going to do. Torn between what he thought was probably for the best — telling Buffy all about this, and letting her decide what to do — and doing what the pretty girl wanted him to.

(No wonder demons liked him. He was a sucker for a pretty girl.)

"Okay, just… why?" Xander asked. "You're obviously smart. You can recite the US Constitution… backwards… for some reason… and you can build kites with rocket boosters. So… why do you want everyone at Giles' to think you're an idiot?"

Seo said nothing. Her eyes fell to the ground, and her shoulders slumped.

"But… I _am_ an idiot," she said.

* * *

"She's tried to kill herself, before?" Willow cried.

Xander hadn't told them about the kite. But he _had_ told them about Seo's serious emotional issues. That, he figured, he had a duty to tell others.

"Yeah, right," Buffy scoffed. "Seo says she tried to kill herself. Seo. The person who ran out into the middle of the street, in order to _not_ get hit by a car."

"I think she's bipolar," said Xander. "She does seem pretty manic, at times."

"She's not bipolar, she's manipulative," Buffy insisted. "She's trying to play on your sympathies. Can't you guys see it?"

Willow and Xander looked at one another. A little hesitant.

"Xander said she didn't even tell us her real name!" Buffy continued. "She obviously doesn't want us to know who she really is."

"Well, the name thing kind of makes sense," said Willow. "I mean, if her father—"

Buffy turned on Willow. "I told you to shut up about that."

"Buff, I get that you're suspicious, but Seo… just… doesn't seem all that evil to me," said Xander.

"Yeah?" asked Buffy. "Well, if Seo really is my daughter, you know what? Right now, she's time travelling into my past, and mega-changing-things-up. She could make it so she was never born in the first place — or reveal some crazy huge thing about my own future that she shouldn't! Which means… this time travel trip of hers is super big on the paradoxiness."

Willow cringed.

"So… she has to be evil," Buffy said. "See? That's why she's shown up, now. I bet you she's only here to… I don't know… cause her own birth, or something… and she's actually some demon spawn kid, and…"

Buffy stopped. As she noticed that Giles had turned away, his eyes purposely diverted somewhere else. Willow with that cringe still stuck on her face, unable to look at Buffy. Even Xander was standing there, looking like a horrible idea had just crashed across him.

"But… why else…?" Buffy asked, her vehemence fading, as she… remembered.

The way that Seo had first looked at her, just after waking up.

The way Seo had reacted to Buffy, overwhelmed with emotion, looking as if… meeting Buffy was something she'd never imagined she'd ever be able to do. And the way that Seo had commented on how everyone else looked so different and younger… except… for Buffy.

No one answered Buffy, for a very long time.

"As you say," said Giles, very softly. "It's… a big risk. But… worth it, perhaps. Under the right circumstances."

Buffy felt her jaw drop open, as she realized that… if Seo was her daughter… really, really was her daughter…

"In Seo's future," said Buffy, "I'm dead."

* * *

Seo had insisted on making dinner, and now that they all knew about her fragile emotional state, no one had had the heart to argue with her.

Even though the smell coming from the kitchen was downright noxious.

"I thought you'd be making something… chocolatey," Xander said, trying his best not to gag on the smell of whatever Seo was stirring on the stove.

"You'll love it," Seo assured Xander. "I'm an amazing cook. Completely self-taught."

Xander looked back at Willow, hoping for some moral support. Willow, bent over a book, trying to research ghost-related things, looked like she was barely able to stay in the same room.

"Why do you wish Harold Saxon was a woman?" Seo asked Willow.

Willow shot her head up. "What?"

Xander tried to make a stealthy retreat from the kitchen, before Willow could get the chance to bludgeon him to death with her ghost-research book.

"Xander said," Seo explained, calmly, "that you would try to go out with Harold Saxon if he was a woman. I want to know why."

Willow, for a few moments, said nothing. Then sighed, and closed the book. "Well, Seo," said Willow, "that's because... I'm gay. I'm not attracted to men. I'm attracted to women."

Seo, for a moment, said nothing. Her brow furrowed.

"Oh."

"Yeah," Willow agreed.

"You're gay," Seo repeated. Then her eyes lit up. "Just like my cello!"

Xander stopped his edging.

Willow, a little perplexed, just stared at Seo. Eyebrows raised. "I don't think…"

"You have a gay cello?" Xander cut in.

"Oh, yes," said Seo. Her smile widening. "You see, I got this brand new cello, as a present. When I first started learning to play. So I called him Elpenor. And then, one day, Elpenor started dressing up in a pink case and calling himself 'Elpenora', and going out with Doug. Doug's… my trumpet."

"Your trumpet," Willow deadpanned.

"Yeah!" said Seo. Then narrowed her eyes. "Why? Do you think my cello can't go out with my trumpet? Do you think that just because Doug and Elpenor are both guys that makes it somehow… _wrong_?"

Willow looked a little beside herself. "Um… no," she said. "I… guess… musical instruments can go out with… whoever they want."

"Well, Doug and Elpenor were really happy together," Seo said. "Until the clarinet came along. Isandra. She started flirting with Doug, and then Doug ditched Elpenor, and ran off with her, instead. And Elpenor was so upset, he got really drunk, and went up onto the roof, and accidentally fell off and smashed into about a million pieces."

Willow's jaw fell open.

"And that," said Seo, "is why I stopped playing cello!"

For a moment, no one spoke.

"Well, it's okay," Seo assured them. "I put a coin under his fingerboard, so he wouldn't be like the Elpenor in the Odyssey."

"Uh… did you just say you shoved your cello off the roof?" Xander asked her.

"I told you," said Seo. "Elpenor got drunk, and fell."

"So, your cello was actually some enchanted, magic, sentient cello," Xander said, "who could…"

Seo stared at him like he was insane. "Of course not," she said. "Cellos aren't sentient or animated. They can't move on their own. They're made of wood."

Willow and Xander looked at one another. Clearly at a loss for words.

"I was upset about it," Seo told them. "Elpenor was only sixteen years old, when he got smashed up, and I really liked him, so I decided to…"

"Sixteen years old?" Willow cut in.

Seo froze. All expression fading from her face, as her eyes fixed on Willow. And she seemed to realize her mistake.

"And you got him newly made," said Willow. "When you started playing. Even though — I thought — you told us you're seventeen years old."

Seo didn't answer.

"How old are you, really, Seo?" asked Willow.

"Seventeen."

Willow crossed her arms, giving her a long, challenging glare.

"Seventeen," Seo repeated. "Really."

"Seventeen?"

"Yes."

"So you're telling me," said Willow, "that you started playing cello when you were one. A full-size cello. That you named after a character from a book that most people don't read until they're in college. All that happened when you were one year old."

For a moment, Seo said nothing. Biting her lower lip, trying to think through her options. Trying to think of what she could say, how she could get past her blunder.

Then she looked Willow deep in the eyes, and said, very seriously, "Yes."

And promptly turned around, as if it was of no consequence, to continue mixing the terrible-smelling dinner.

Willow shook her head. Opened her mouth, as if to retort something — probably along the lines of, 'that's ridiculous' — then shut it again. Because… really… what was the point?

Willow got up from the table. "I'm going to find Buffy," she muttered, grabbing up the book, and stalking off.

Xander turned back to Seo, to discover her sealing up a small vial she'd scooped out of the mixture she was cooking, and shoving it into the inside lining of her jacket. She glanced over at him, noticed he was watching her, and gave him a very large grin.

Then she grabbed up a bottle of bleach, dumped it into the boiling pot, and dumped the entire thing down the sink.

"I… thought… you were cooking," Xander said, still trying to figure out where she'd gotten the bleach from.

"Yeah, but… the truth is…" Seo gave him a little wink, "I'm not actually a very good cook."

* * *

"So… you're saying that someone showed up," said Dawn, over the phone, "out of the blue, who, you're pretty sure, is your future daughter, and she's traveled back in time so she can hang out with you because, whenever she comes from, you're dead."

"Basically, yeah," Buffy said.

There was a long pause.

"I thought you said I wasn't going to believe this," Dawn said.

"Of course you're not!" said Buffy. "I mean, she's only been awake for a few days, and _I_ still don't believe it."

Dawn sighed. "Buffy, family members randomly popping into existence around you happens, like, all the time. _I_ should know."

"But… but… she could be my kid!" Buffy said.

"Uh-huh. Yawn."

"Or… she could be a demon trying to _pretend_ that she's my time-traveling kid, so that she can manipulate me into…"

"Seen it. Xander and Anya's wedding."

"Well, well… what about the dying part?" Buffy insisted. "Did you miss that? If Seo's my kid, then she's probably around here, in the present, because, in the future, I'm going to die."

"Buffy, you've died, like, three or four times, now," Dawn reminded her.

"Yeah, but… maybe this time, I stay dead," said Buffy.

"Or maybe," said Dawn, "Seo's dad _thinks_ you're dead, and is too heartbroken to check up on you and make sure, but in actual fact, Willow's magicked you back to life. You know. Like what always happens."

Buffy said nothing. Then, in a small voice, conceded, "Okay, you're right. That's actually… really smart thinking."

"Buffy, this stuff's happened to you, like, a million times before," said Dawn — and Buffy could practically hear her rolling her eyes over the phone. "There's no 'smart thinking' about it. It's just experience."

* * *

"What about… Margaret Atwood?" Xander asked.

"Of course!" said Seo. "Everything by her. I mean — _Orynx and Crake_? Amazing. I was in tears by the end."

This might have meant something to Xander, if he had actually read Margaret Atwood himself. But since he only knew she existed because one of her books was on Giles' bookshelves, he moved on.

" _Malleus Maleficarum_ ," Xander said, glancing around Giles' library and seeing the book on the shelf. "By Heinrich Kramer."

"That's not a fantasy book," Seo said. "I told you. Just fantasy and science fiction. I haven't read anything else. You know. Except the obvious stuff."

Uh-huh.

Another book, selected from Giles' library. "Virgil."

"Too easy. Everyone's read him."

Xander hadn't.

He put the book down on the coffee table, and turned to Seo. Time to get her on Xander-style books. "Okay, then. JK Rowling!"

"Read her," Seo confirmed. "Kids books. Adult books. That series about the midget that no one read because it was published when the Special Edition 25th anniversary Harry Potter books were being released. I actually memorized her _Complete Guide to Parceltongue._ I've always wanted to try that out."

"JK Rowling… never wrote a _Complete Guide to_ …" Xander started.

"Not yet," Seo replied. Her eyes sparkled, a grin on her face. Challenge written across her every feature. "Go on! I dare you. One author I haven't read."

"Terry Pratchett," said Xander.

"Read him."

"Ray Bradbury!"

" _Illustrated Man_? _Fahrenheit 451_? You're making this too easy."

"Isaac Asimov," Xander said.

"Yep. Read him right around the time I read Ursula LeGuin, Arthur C. Clarke, and Yarkozelch Filmach."

"Yarkozelch…" Xander shook his head. "That's not a real person."

"Not a real person!" said Seo. "Rubbish!"

Xander scratched his head. "You're American," he pointed out. "You're not allowed to say words like 'rubbish'."

"The accent comes with the face," said Seo. "The vocabulary doesn't."

"Huh?"

"Yarkozelch Filmach," Seo said, ignoring their change in topic. "Best Sci Fi Super-Neo-Gothic-Tech-Romance Thriller writer in the Mutters Spiral, about 5,000 years from now. 20 novels published, 9 making the intergalactic best-seller list the week they were released. I've read them all." She shrugged, and gave a little smile. "If he's not real, it'll come as a shock to his publisher."

Xander threw up his hands in the air. "You're just making this up!"

"No, really," said Seo. "I've read every single work of science fiction or fantasy ever published. Or almost every single work, anyways."

"But that makes no sense!" Xander insisted, again. "I mean… how? How could you possibly have read everything ever published? What about the really bad books, that are so terribly written you just want to get your teeth pulled out before you read another word?"

"I've read those, too," said Seo. "They don't get any better, by the end."

"But… why?!"

"You can do a lot when you're bored," Seo explained.

"To read as much as you claim you have, you'd have to have been bored non-stop for years at a time," Xander pointed out to her.

Seo just shrugged.

Xander shook his head. His mind racing. He was sure that Seo was lying. Sure that there was someone he could think up that she hadn't read. Wouldn't recognize. Some author she'd overlooked. Which was hard, considering that he'd spent most of his high school days preventing apocalypses, instead of reading books.

Xander's single good eye lit up.

"Kilgore Trout!" he challenged.

Seo grinned. "Kilgore Trout. I like him."

Xander felt his jaw drop open. "No," he said. "No, there is absolutely no way you've read Kilgore Trout. And even if you have, there's no way you could have read all of his stuff."

"Okay, maybe not _all_ ," Seo admitted. "But most of it. Everything I could find. I liked that one about Delmore Skag and the chicken soup. And _the Dancing Fool_ — Zog was funny. And then…"

"Either you're a really fast reader," Xander interrupted, "or you're making this all up."

Seo crossed her arms. " _Plague on Wheels_ , by Kilgore Trout. Page 36. Kago sneezes." She raised an eyebrow at him. "Check and see if I'm right."

Xander got the book out of the library, the next day. And… damn it.

Kago sneezed.


	7. Chapter 7

Buffy had spoken to Xander about his spending so much time with Seo.

She got that he had a whole protective thing going on. She got that he seemed really worried that Seo was going to try to kill herself. But whatever suicidal tendencies Xander had seen in Seo, Buffy hadn't.

Buffy had met people that had killed themselves — for one reason or another. Heck, she'd met basically every dead person in Sunnydale, back when she'd been battling the First! And Seo didn't strike Buffy as the suicidal type.

She did strike Buffy as the lie-about-anything-about-myself type.

"I'm taking Seo out," said Buffy, catching Xander and Seo just before they were about to leave. She gave them a hard, challenging glare. Daring them to contradict her.

"Buffy," said Xander, very softly, "Seo's kind of… trying to get over her fear of…"

Seo, however, dropped Xander's hand and bounced over to Buffy, her face illuminating. "Can I really?" she asked. "Can I come with you? Really? Can I?"

Buffy was starting to have second thoughts about it. She could just imagine having to babysit some teenage looking kid who acted like she was five.

But… no. Buffy had busted this kid out of Torchwood. That made Seo her responsibility.

"We should go somewhere really crowded," Seo proposed. "With lots of people! Xander and I have been working really hard on the, you know, getting used to being around people thing. And… and… we definitely should go somewhere with lots of people!"

"Yeah, yeah, okay," said Buffy, who really didn't care where they actually went. "Fine. People. Let's do people."

Perhaps Buffy did what she did next because it seemed the best place to amuse someone with the maturity level of a toddler. Or maybe Buffy thought Seo was evil, and found the idea of Seo being chased by feral pigeons amusing. Maybe it was just because Buffy was finding Seo's bubbly personality really draining, and she honestly couldn't think of anywhere else.

But they wound up at the North Terrace of Trafalgar Square.

Seo rushed forwards, her eyes filled with excitement, the moment she spotted the bird-feed sellers and all the little kids, nearby, feeding pigeons.

"It's just like Mary Poppins!" Seo cried.

Okay. So… in Seo's childhood… no on the chocolate. Yes on the Disney movies.

"Yeah," said Buffy. "Except, you know, selling bird-feed in Trafalgar Square is technically illegal, trained hawks are being released to get rid of the feral pigeon population, and…" Buffy gave a half shrug, "I've killed, like, three demons, here, in the past year."

Seo's enthusiasm dropped a little. "Oh."

"So… not so Disney Musically," said Buffy. "But, still. Big on the crowds-of-people thing."

Seo hesitated. Like a little kid, waiting for permission from Buffy to run off and play.

Buffy sighed. "Oh, just go… dance with pigeons or something!" she said. "Whatever."

Seo grinned, then raced off to explore.

Xander had told Buffy about Seo's people-are-around freak-out. He'd told Buffy that Seo, as a child, had been very isolated. But, judging by what Buffy was seeing today, Seo was either a very quick learner, or a very good liar.

Because Seo immediately fell in with a group of kids. No problem whatsoever.

"Of course they can speak!" Seo was explaining to the kids. She crouched down, and made soft cooing noises to a nearby pigeon.

The pigeon, at first, did nothing.

"What did you say?" asked one of the kids.

"I'm just telling it to come over here." Seo tried again, and this time, the pigeon glanced over — almost lazily. Then shuffled towards them.

All the kids cried out in delight.

Which, of course, caused the pigeon to start, violently. And fly away.

Seo turned to the kids. "Be very quiet," she urged them. Then tried again, with another pigeon.

This one came right towards them, and then hopped on Seo's arm. The children were all enraptured, as Seo pet its feathers, a delighted grin on her face.

Okay, seriously, what part of the words 'feral pigeon population' _hadn't_ Seo understood?

Buffy stomped over, prepared to drag Seo away and reprimand her for petting some bird that probably had all kinds of horrible diseases and stuff, then stopped. And retreated.

This kid had survived Torchwood-style poisons.

Buffy was guessing she could probably handle a few feral pigeons.

The other thing was… there was something kind of… magical-Disney-fairytale about it. Seo, pigeon on her arm, surrounded by fascinated children, explaining exactly what the pigeon was saying. Using a lower, slightly more gruff voice, for the pigeon.

And more and more kids began to assemble around Seo, as she told elaborate, impossible stories about these pigeon's lives. As she pretended to converse with the pigeons, have arguments with them, and even break up some pigeon-fights happening nearby.

The kids loved it.

Most of the parents, nearby, just assumed that Seo was some tourist trap street performer, and were happy to let their kids watch. Some even gave Seo a tip, before they left.

One mother, nearby, had encouraged her son to go watch Seo's little show. A son who, Buffy couldn't help but note, had a very nasty looking black eye.

And the mom wasn't looking in such good shape, herself.

Buffy knew the moment Seo spotted the little boy with the black eye. The little boy who tried to keep in the background, who didn't want to draw attention to himself, who cowered as if in fear. Buffy knew the moment Seo had spotted him, because Seo let her pigeons fly away, and walked over to the boy. Bent down, eye to eye with him, and studied his face, carefully.

"What happened?" she asked him, in a very soft voice.

The boy didn't want to talk.

Seo asked him his name, instead, and when he told her it was Jim, she said, in a very serious voice, "Jim. Be honest with me. Are you secretly a superhero, who battles back the forces of darkness? Is that how you became injured?"

The kids around her renewed their interest in Seo's act.

"I've been told," Seo explained to the rest of them, "that there've been three demons fought off, in this very place, over the past year. And I'm guessing," patting Jim on the back, "that you've been the one fighting them off. While we're not looking."

"I want to fight off demons!" shouted a little girl.

"Me, too!" shouted a little boy.

Jim seemed to gain a little extra self-confidence, as the others all rallied to join his monster-fighting group. Buffy glanced over at Jim's mother, hoping that she'd be pleased.

But she was trying to hold back a great big, muscular guy, who looked pretty drunk.

The guy had his eyes narrowed at Seo, as he broke free from his wife and marched forwards. Buffy crept a little closer, herself, eyes trained on the big guy. Half expecting him to grab up Seo and punch her in the nose.

Instead, he just yanked Jim away, snapping something rude-sounding at Seo that Buffy couldn't quite make out.

Then, dragging Jim behind him, he stormed off.

Seo stood, for a moment, saying nothing, her eyes fixed on the retreating Jim. When one of the kids nearby whined at Seo to continue, she gave a large smile, and resumed her act with the pigeons. As if nothing had happened.

* * *

"Do you think they bought it?" Seo asked Buffy, when she'd finished.

"That you could actually talk to pigeons?" Buffy shrugged. "I dunno, but they sure liked the idea."

Seo seemed a little affronted by this. "I _can_ talk to pigeons."

Buffy shot Seo a skeptical look. "No, you can't."

"I can, too!" Seo assured her. "I speak Bird. I just lied to the kids about what the pigeons actually said." She made a face. "Basically, all birds ever talk about is regurgitating worms. It's pretty gross."

"Yep," said Buffy, with a sigh. "You speak Bird. And you started playing cello when you were one year old. Any other fun little stories about your childhood, Seo?"

Seo seemed a little hurt by this. "You don't believe me?"

"No," said Buffy. "And I'm guessing, if I asked you about your little learning Bird episode, you'd say something absolutely insane, like… I don't know. You were out hiking in the middle of the desert, wearing snowshoes you'd woven for yourself from the nose hairs of the Minotaur, and then a pigeon came along who could speak English. And taught you."

Seo said nothing for a moment. "That's… a lot better than what I was going to say," she confessed. "Can I steal it?"

"If you promise never to tell me who taught you to speak Bird," said Buffy, "then yes. You can." She turned on Seo. "And… why would you even want to speak Bird, anyways?"

"I got really bored," said Seo.

Buffy sighed. That wasn't worth dignifying with an answer.

"And… I was five," Seo added, quietly.

Buffy stopped in her tracks. Closed her eyes. Seo had learned to speak a foreign language — an animal foreign language — when she was five. Because she was bored.

"I really didn't want to know that," Buffy muttered.

"Well, I wanted to be a Disney princess when I grew up!" said Seo. "You know! The kind that runs through forests and sings beautifully and speaks to animals. So… I didn't have anything better to do…"

"So you learned to speak animal languages," said Buffy.

Seo grimaced. "That was a mistake. Take it from me. Animals are _weird_."

Buffy didn't think she wanted to hear any more of this. No, scratch that. Buffy _knew_ she didn't want to hear any more of this. What she wanted was for Seo to stop talking, so Buffy could continue to pretend that Seo was just… some… world-destroying demon who was trying to infiltrate her life.

And not think about who, inevitably, must have taught Seo to speak Bird.

"Did you really slay three demons in Trafalgar Square?" Seo asked. There was real awe in her voice. "Can you tell me about it?"

Buffy spun around to face Seo. "I'm _not_ a Disney Princess," said Buffy. "My life is pain, and misery, and heartache. You understand? That's what saving the world actually means! So if you want to think that hanging out with me is going to be some kind of romantic, story-book kind of exciting, then you can stop. Go home. And keep being bored."

Buffy had meant for it to be a warning. She hadn't intended it to completely devastate Seo.

But now, Seo was staring at Buffy as if Buffy had just bludgeoned her pet puppy to death in front of her. Shock, betrayal, horror and devastation ripped through her face.

"Look, I'm just saying… real life isn't like your little stories and games and stuff," said Buffy. "You can't treat it like it's some amusement you come up with when you're really bored."

Seo said nothing. Her expression never changing.

Then she turned, and ran.

(Okay. Running away. It… doesn't mean anything. Ignore it, Buffy. Just ignore it.)

Buffy chased after Seo, both of them ducking and dodging and weaving their way through crowds of people, Buffy calling out after Seo, but Seo either not hearing, or not wanting to listen.

She darted down a back alley, and Buffy, just barely catching the movement, swore beneath her breath and followed. She could see Seo's image vanishing, as it turned a corner, and Buffy opened her mouth, to call out, again.

Her voice was silenced by Seo's shriek.

Then, the sound of an alien gun echoed through the alleyway.

Seo came skittering back around the corner, and then raced in the other direction, Buffy spinning on her heels and rushing out after Seo, once more.

"Who…?" Buffy asked.

"Torchwood!" Seo hissed, as she turned back onto the main street.

Behind them, Buffy could hear the shouts of Torchwood agents, encouraging one another to send for backup, contact Yvonne, and hurry up, because they'd just spotted their escaped prisoner.

And they weren't letting Seo escape, again.

Buffy glanced around at the CCTV cameras. Their best chance, Buffy knew, was to lose the Torchwood Agents in the crowd of people around them — but… damn it, this was Torchwood. Buffy knew what that meant. Overfunded, alien-fighting Torchwood. They'd get this area clear faster than she could imagine, saying it was police business.

In fact, Torchwood had probably already spotted Seo on the CCTV cameras.

Which meant… no losing the pursuing agents in the crowd.

Buffy skimmed her eyes across the road, before she spotted… yep. Manhole cover. That meant sewer tunnel, and that was always the go-to Buffy-escape-route.

She grabbed up Seo and dragged her towards it, prying the cover off the top. A car swerved by them, honking angrily. Buffy ignored it, and jumped down into the sewers, dragging Seo in after her.

"What…?" Seo asked, but Buffy shushed her. Too echoey in the sewer tunnels. And they had to get somewhere hidden, ASAP.

"No CCTV cameras," Buffy whispered to Seo in her sewer-hiding voice, as they got back to their feet, and ran along the outside pathways of the sewer tunnel.

Seo glanced around the sewer tunnels, as if looking for the missing cameras. "Those cameras are set up for Torchwood?" Seo whispered back.

"No, Torchwood just hacks them," Buffy replied. She could hear pursuing Torchwood Agents, climbing down into the sewers after them. They sounded like they were on the phone with Hartman. Calling for backup.

"I thought this was a faraday cage," Seo whispered.

"I call it a Buffy Tunnel," said Buffy, turning another corner. "Who's Faraday and why does he need a cage?"

Seo clanged her foot against the metallic sides of the sewer, and Buffy, swearing under her breath, yanked the girl away before she could attract enough attention to herself to get caught.

"I was right!" Seo whispered. "It _is_ a faraday cage!"

"Good for you," said Buffy. "Now be quiet!"

"But how can their phones be working," Seo continued, "if we're in a faraday cage?"

Buffy thought answering that question would be a lot easier if she knew what a 'faraday cage' actually was.

"Archangel works everywhere," Buffy told Seo. She still remembered the commercials — a kid playing, getting trapped in a bomb shelter, calling for help on his cell phone, and being rescued. And then there was that one about the guy who can call 9-9-9 after getting stuck in an avalanche. Yep. Archangel worked everywhere.

Buffy yanked Seo around another corner, then stopped. As she realized it was a dead end.

Damn it.

She shushed Seo, hoping that maybe the Torchwood Agents would pass them by. But… damn, damn, damn, they must have all kinds of bio-scanning equipment and things, because the agents were getting closer and closer to them. Their flashlights shining through the darkness, trapping Buffy and Seo in their hiding place.

Buffy held her breath, as they paused, just outside their alcove.

Please pass them by. Please. Please. Please!

"In here!" one of the agents shouted, stepping forward to shine his flashlight into Buffy's hiding spot.

Damn.

Buffy turned to Seo, trying to reassure her that everything was okay and they should just go with it and surrender, then try to escape later — probably when Buffy got around to alerting Giles and the others that she needed a rescue.

But Buffy didn't have the chance.

Because Seo grabbed Buffy by the arms, and, with an angry yell, threw her against the side of the sewer. Buffy landed with a heavy thud that shook through her whole body.

A myriad of flashlights fixed on them.

The hurried rush of footsteps, and a shout of angry Torchwood people, giving chase, as… Buffy assumed… Seo escaped.

Good going Buffy. Way to put your faith in someone you're pretty sure is going to wind up stabbing you in the back the first chance she gets, and then be surprised when she stabs you in the back the first chance she gets.

Buffy felt herself propped up, checked over for injuries.

"Civilian appears to have no serious injuries," the Torchwood Agent checking her over started. "She…" Then the agent stopped. "Oh."

And noticed the dagger in Buffy's hand, the exact same moment that Buffy did.

"That's not a civilian," said another Torchwood agent, approaching. "It's Buffy Summers. She's on our side." The Torchwood agent offered Buffy a hand, and got her to her feet.

Buffy was still trying to figure out how this dagger — _her_ dagger, which she'd very carefully hidden on her before going off with Seo — had wound up in her hand. And whose blood was on the blade.

"Rick Poltar," the Torchwood agent introduced himself. He nodded over at the other one. "That's Jane Linkold. Torchwood London."

Jane pried the dagger out from Buffy's hand, examining the blood.

"Judging by the color," she said, "I'd say it's our prisoner's."

Buffy felt a little overwhelmed. As she realized that Seo must have cut herself, then thrust the dagger into Buffy's hand. That Seo — by attacking her and then ditching her — hadn't been turning on Buffy. But had been demonstrating to Torchwood that Buffy wasn't on Seo's side.

"So you've been hunting her down, too?" said Rick. "Bet you've had better luck than us. That alien just doesn't want to get caught."

Jane, in the meantime, activated her headset, and checked back in with Hartman and the other teams, spread out around the sewer.

"Yeah," said Buffy. "Yeah. You know. Aliens that wander around, looking just like me, and giving people my name. That's sign number one that they're up to no good."

"You're right," Rick confirmed. "We don't know what she wants, but that girl's definitely up to no good. No good at all."

From Jane's conversation, Buffy thought it sounded like the Torchwood agents had just lost Seo, somewhere in the sewer system.

"So you know something about her?" Buffy asked.

"She trusted us, when she first showed up," Rick said. "Told us a few things about her past." He gave a short laugh. "The surprising thing is that she was completely shocked when we convicted her and locked her up based on her testimony."

"Why?" asked Buffy. "What did she do, before she wound up with you guys?"

"No idea," said Rick. "But she was in prison. A very high security prison. Impenetrable — her words. Nothing could get in, nothing could get out." He reflected. "Except for her, I suppose. Since she escaped."

Buffy felt herself growing a little colder. "She was in prison?"

"And was there for a very long time," Rick agreed. "I don't know what she'd done, but it's got to be bad. Solitary, probably. Get ten other people around her, and she panics."

Buffy swallowed. Remembering what Xander said about Seo and crowds.

Jane sighed, turning to Rick and Buffy. "She's vanished," she reported. "I told Yvonne about Buffy, here, and Yvonne's given permission for us to use her tracking skills. Otherwise…" Jane gave a shrug. "We might as well give it up and go home."

Buffy frowned. "I thought you guys had serious alien tracking technology."

"None of it works down here," said Jane. Tapping on the metal walls. "Faraday cage. Blocks every transmission except Archangel."

Rick muttered something under his breath, but didn't bother repeating it loud enough for Buffy to hear.

"I guess I can try," said Buffy. "If she's as dangerous as you say. But…" She paused. Bit her tongue. What Buffy wanted to ask was whether Hartman was planning to kill Seo, if they caught her. But… on second thought… not the greatest idea to ask something like that. Not when Buffy was usually the one slicing up aliens.

"But?" asked Rick.

"It won't be easy," Buffy continued. "She's hard to track."

"Yeah, well, like I said," said Jane. "It's either you, or pack up and go home. With this alien, it's not like we can just…"

Jane stopped in mid-sentence. Blinked. Then, ignoring Buffy completely, turned to Rick.

"Nothing?" Rick asked Jane.

"Nothing," confirmed Jane. "We lost her. No trace. Better just pack up and head back to base."

Rick nodded, and then the two of them turned on their heels, grumbling about how they were so sure they'd been _that_ close to catching the alien, when she'd slipped through their fingers. Then they climbed out of the sewers, and closed the manhole cover.

Never giving Buffy a second glance.

"Okay," said Buffy, to no one. Had she been hit by another invisibility ray? Or had Torchwood just gone completely crazy?

"Did it work?" whispered a voice from the shadows. "Did they think… you were on their side?"

Buffy jumped, a mile high, and spun around. But was unable to see anything in the pitch blackness. Still, she could recognize the voice.

"Seo," Buffy said.

The girl who'd been bored out of her mind, who'd been isolated from other people and places, who'd been terrified at the idea that Buffy might send her back.

Because 'back' didn't mean back to a life of decadent luxury where everything was either boring or some kind of game.

'Back' meant back to prison.

"Did that whole Torchwood ignoring me thing have something to do with you?" asked Buffy.

Seo said nothing for a few moments. Then, "I don't think so."

Buffy crossed her arms. "Seo…" she chided, trying her best to sound like an angry parent. Because if Seo was going to play at being her kid, at least Buffy could play at being her mom.

Seo didn't answer.

Buffy sighed, then decided to get out of the sewers. She reached into her pocket, to dig out her cell phone and call Giles, let him know to get the manhole cover off the sewer outlet nearest his house, because she was coming up.

Except… Buffy's phone wasn't there.

Buffy swore. She ventured back into the dead-end sewer pipe where Seo had thrown her against the wall, feeling out against the ground, searching for her phone. Trying to work out where it might have fallen.

"What's wrong?" asked Seo.

"I dropped my phone," said Buffy. "Can you…?"

A light flashed on, just behind Buffy. A soft, glowing light, from a cell phone display.

Buffy turned, to discover Seo, holding out her phone, a sheepish expression on her face. "I… was just borrowing it," Seo said.


	8. Chapter 8

"So… you did nothing at all to my phone?" Buffy asked, as they trudged back through the sewers towards Giles'. "You just took it out of my pocket, ran away, hid from the Torchwood agents, and then came right back. Without pressing a single button."

"Yes."

"Even though you've somehow managed to work out," Buffy continued, "totally randomly, that the Torchwood communications systems run off Archangel."

"You said Archangel was the only thing that worked in a faraday cage," said Seo. "Torchwood's communications worked down here. So they must have Archangel."

Oh. Damn. Point to Seo.

"So why did you want my phone?" asked Buffy.

"I…" Seo started. Then hesitated. "I thought Torchwood wouldn't buy it. That they'd know you were… helping me." She shuffled her feet a little. "I was trying to call Giles. To rescue you."

"And that's the truth?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah."

Buffy didn't believe it for a second. She was much more inclined to believe that Seo had done some clever, sciency thing, using the electronics inside the phone, so she could purposely cut off Buffy's conversation before Buffy learned any more about Seo's past from the Torchwood people.

"So, why do Torchwood want you imprisoned in the first place," Buffy said, "if you're just a normal Earth-born American Citizen with nothing to hide?"

"Because they think I know about the Sphere," said Seo.

That was a new one for Buffy. Torchwood was looking for a… mystical Sphere? She turned, trying to make out Seo's silhouette in the blackness. "What Sphere?"

"The one I found," said Seo.

"Found where?" asked Buffy. "While you were doing what?"

"In the Minotaur's nose," Seo said, a little more challengingly, "when I was cutting those nose hairs to make my desert-traveling snow shoes. Right around the time I learned to speak Bird."

Okay, Buffy walked right into that one.

"So what _do_ you know about this Sphere whatever thing?" asked Buffy.

For a very long moment, Seo said nothing.

Then, in a very small voice, "It's real."

"Huh?"

"It can't be real," Seo explained. "It gives off no readings. No radiation. No atomic mass. No nothing. But… somehow… it's real." She gave an annoyed sigh. "I've been trying to work it out. But it just doesn't make sense."

Okay, then. Buffy didn't get any of that.

"Is that it for the interrogation?" asked Seo, her voice a little hopeful. "Because I've got a whole bunch more lies, if you want to continue asking me questions."

Buffy wanted to hit her head against the wall. "Seo, are you telling me you've been lying to me this whole time?"

"Of course I have!" said Seo, with a laugh. "Torchwood just wants to dissect me. They don't think I know anything about the Sphere."

"You said you _didn't_ know anything about the Sphere," Buffy pointed out to her.

"And _you_ said you didn't know why Torchwood wanted me locked up," Seo countered.

Damn.

Point two to Seo.

* * *

"Wait, seriously?" asked Willow. "A prisoner?"

Upstairs, they could all hear the shower going full blast. Which meant that Seo was still trying to wash the yucky sewer stuff off of herself. Which meant it was safe to talk.

"She doesn't seem terribly dangerous," Giles pointed out. "I've seen no evidence that she's trying to put forward any sort of nefarious plan."

Xander looked down at his hands. "I have," he admitted.

Everyone turned to stare at Xander.

"What?" said Xander. "She asked me not to tell you guys!"

"And you did what she asked?" said Buffy. She shook her head. "I knew it. I knew that Seo was doing some… mind control thing! That's why Torchwood ignored me."

Willow looked down at the cell phone Buffy had handed her. The cell phone that, Buffy was positive, Seo had tampered with.

"You think Seo's going to brainwash people using your phone?" Willow challenged. "How? By reprogramming the FBI chips in our dental fillings?"

Buffy bit her lip. Put that way, it did sound seriously stupid.

"Yeah, actually, Seo… didn't brainwash me," Xander confessed. "I just… thought about it. And decided not to tell you guys what she was doing. Voluntarily."

Everyone turned back to Xander.

"Why?" Buffy asked.

"Because I think Seo trusts me," said Xander. "Actually trusts me. I was hoping I could figure out what her whole plan was before I betrayed that trust and told you everything."

Buffy scoffed. "She doesn't trust you. She doesn't trust anyone. She told Torchwood the truth, they locked her up for it, and she learned her lesson. Everything she's told us so far is a lie." Buffy laughed. "She basically told me as much, down in the sewers."

Giles frowned. "That is… troubling," he confessed. "Terribly troubling. Particularly, if what we suspect about her parentage is—"

"Don't you start on that," Buffy cut in.

"Well, it's a possibility, right?" said Willow. "And kind of a scary one. If Seo actually is evil."

"Evil Slayer," Xander confirmed. "Remember that one. Not really in favor of nearly getting fed to a giant snake, again."

Willow sighed. "That would be bad enough on its own," she affirmed. "But if Seo's father—"

"Don't!" Buffy cut in.

"Buffy," Giles began. "Seo is—"

Buffy put her hands over her ears, and shouted, "Lalalalalala, not listening!"

Willow sighed, then leaned back in her chair.

Xander looked completely lost.

"Buffy, why don't you want to talk about this?" asked Willow, when Buffy was done blocking her out. "I mean, Seo might not be licking the walls, but it's still pretty obvious who her father is."

"That's my… future… special guy," said Buffy, "whoever you're talking about. And… don't say who it is, because you don't know that! Not for sure!"

Willow raised her eyebrows, but said nothing.

"I'm like cookies, Will," Buffy explained. "I'm still in the oven, baking. And I don't know how I'm going to turn out when I'm done. I don't _want_ to know how I'll turn out when I'm done. I mean, what if I turn out all gooey and yucky and stuff, instead of a light golden brown, and…"

"Uh, Buffy?" said Willow. "We get it. Weird cookie analogies aside — we get it."

For a moment, no one said anything.

Then Giles cleared his throat, awkwardly. "Yes, well, getting back to the matter at hand," said Giles, "we must accept the possibility that Seo is employing some sort of mental manipulation."

"Mental what?" asked Xander. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Hypnosis," said Buffy.

"What about hypnosis?" asked Seo, as she walked into the room. Freshly scrubbed and cleaned, hair still damp.

Everyone coughed, then looked away. Everyone, that is, except for Buffy.

"Have you been hypnotizing us, Seo?" Buffy asked.

Seo's eyes lit up. "Have I?" she asked, an excited grin on her face. "That would be neat! I didn't know I could hypnotize people!"

Buffy held her head in her hands, and gave a long, frustrated sigh.

"Ooh!" said Seo. "Can I hypnotize someone to hopscotch across the sidewalk right outside the Houses of Parliament? Or… or could I make someone stick their finger in their ear and bark like a dog? Or maybe, I could use hypnosis to bring down society and turn everything everywhere into a wasteland!"

"Seo," Xander cut in, before she could go on. "Have you been lying to me?"

Seo beamed at him. "Probably," she confirmed. "I lie to lots of people." Her eyes fell onto the coffee table, and lit up. "Ooh!"

She dove towards it, and Buffy managed to intercept her, snatching the object out of her hands before Seo could get it.

"Oh," said Seo, backing off. "I just wanted to read it. I've never read her, before."

Then Buffy realized the object she'd just snatched from Seo had been a copy of Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer. The copy Jackie had given her.

Buffy, a little sheepishly, handed the book to Seo.

"But don't do anything evil with it," Buffy warned, even though she knew it might be the stupidest warning she'd ever given anyone.

"I won't," Seo promised, rushing off to read it.

Xander looked after her, a little puzzled. "I thought Seo had read everything," he said.

"I thought Seo had _overheard_ everything," Willow muttered. "Everything we said."

Buffy looked out after Seo. "She's smart," said Buffy. "There's no denying that. And she's up to something. And until we can prove otherwise — I'm guessing she has something to do with the ghosts."

"You mean, you think these ghosts aren't an invading army trying to take over the world?" asked Willow. "That Seo's using them for something worse?"

Buffy shook her head. "I don't know," she said. "But I really, really doubt Seo came to Earth just so she could read Twilight."

* * *

When Seo had requested to take a walk, that evening, it was Buffy that jumped at the opportunity to go with her. Buffy had decided — she was Seo's jailer, now. And she wasn't giving Seo the chance to do _anything_.

The problem was… Buffy could only spend so long with her hands over her ears, insisting that she didn't know the truth.

"It's beautiful," Seo breathed, taking in the night around them. She raced forwards, her hands extended, as if she were trying to take off and fly through the air. "Night! I've never experienced night before! Not walking around like this."

"That I can believe," muttered Buffy. She didn't think that whatever alien prison Seo had come from would be big on nighttime walks.

Seo turned to Buffy. "Do you have fireflies, here?" she asked. "I always wanted to see a firefly!"

"Seo, we don't even have any vampires, anymore," Buffy sighed. "We've got nothing. Nothing even remotely special or interesting about night."

Seo looked up at the sky, hoping to make a point. Then frowned, as she realized the sky was clouded over. So… no stars.

"Like I said," said Buffy. "Nothing."

Seo contemplated this, for a moment. Then shook her head. "Nah, I've been in nothing already," she said. "This is much better than nothing." She raced forwards. "Come on!"

Buffy shuffled off after Seo. Geeze. Anyone would think she was Seo's prisoner.

It took Buffy a little while to realize that Seo wasn't wandering around aimlessly. That she was actually leading them somewhere.

"Seo," Buffy called out.

Seo stopped, and turned around. A guilty look on her face.

"Where are we going?" Buffy demanded.

"Buckingham Palace."

Buffy sighed. "No, we're not."

"Why not?" asked Seo. "Maybe I'm going down there with Christopher Robin and Alice!"

Buffy strode over to Seo, and yanked the item she'd been holding right out of her hands. A matchbook for "Togardo's". She looked up, and discovered the pub "Togardo's" directly in front of them.

"You're going to a pub," said Buffy.

"I found the matchbook on the ground," Seo told her. "I've never had an alcoholic beverage before. I figured I'd try it out."

"Uh-huh," said Buffy. "You do know the drinking age, here, is 18?"

Seo grinned. "That's all right! I'm 23."

"I thought you said you were seventeen," Buffy said.

"Well, yes," Seo replied, "but I'm also allowing for a six year margin of error."

Buffy wanted to hit her head on something.

"What?" asked Seo.

"Ages don't have a margin of error!" Buffy shouted.

"Why not?" asked Seo. "They should. What if you don't remember how old you are?"

"You… you… you are so frustrating, sometimes!" Buffy retorted. "Why can't you just give me a straight answer to a straight question?"

"I've given you a lot of straight answers," said Seo. "They just happened to be lies."

"Then tell me the truth!" Buffy demanded. "You gave Torchwood my name. Obviously, you wanted me to find you. I'm here, now. So tell me what's going on!"

Seo looked off into the distance, her eyes fixed on a group of people, not far off. A group of people that had just staggered out of Togardo's, laughing and clearly drunk. Seo's face folded into a frown.

"Excuse me, a moment," she said.

Then turned and walked over to the group. Grabbed someone out of it. Slammed him against the wall of the building beside her.

And punched him across the face.

Buffy sprinted forwards, and snatched Seo away. "What the hell did you do that for?" she shouted.

Seo's expression remained grim, stony, and angry. "My fist slipped," she said.

"You can't just go around hitting…" Buffy stopped. Then turned back to the guy Seo had hit. And realized… she recognized him.

It was the abusive dad, from earlier that morning. Before Torchwood and the sewer chase. Before Buffy had gotten her new information. Before Buffy had understood everything.

Someone who might actually deserve to get hit.

It was only because Buffy had been startled, due to everything else that was happening around her, that he managed to push Buffy off of him, and shove her to the ground. His breath was thick with alcohol, as he staggered forwards, punching out at Seo.

Seo caught his arm, and gave him a hard, warning glare. "Don't."

The others, nearby, had already tried to interpose themselves between Seo and the abusive dad, but Buffy recognized the expression on Seo's face. The way Seo was standing.

It was Buffy's signature "don't mess with me" move.

Because it allowed you to launch into any fighting position that Buffy knew, no matter how many monsters were threatening you from how many directions.

Buffy was the one who pulled Seo away, in the end. Diffused the situation. Then turned to the abusive dad. "You're really, really lucky I'm around," she said. "Next time, you might not be that lucky. Remember that."

She waited until the group had staggered off, and was long out of sight or hearing range, before she rounded on Seo.

"What did you do that for?" Buffy demanded.

Seo didn't answer. Her entire body was still tense. Her jaw still set with anger.

"There are laws against child abuse, you know," Buffy snapped. "If you'd just stolen his ID instead of that matchbook, or gotten his license plate or something, we could have reported him to the authorities. But no! You just walked up and punched him! So now, if we actually try to bring him up on any charges, _he_ would report _you_ to the police, the police would report you to Torchwood, and there'd be no getting out of that one, Seo! Why couldn't you just—?"

"Because I don't like people who mess with kids!" Seo shouted.

Buffy hesitated, a little taken aback by Seo's surge of anger. Then shook her head, giving a long, slow sigh.

"I need to introduce you to the concept of 'calling the police'," Buffy told her.

Seo spun around, the hardness never leaving her face. "I'm done here, anyways," she said, and headed back to Giles'. "You can clap me in irons when we get home. It was worth it."


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this is a fault of my summary, earlier. I forgot to mention something brought up in _Bringer of Death_ , which is now making everyone extremely confused.
> 
> In that story, we discover that Dawn has been wearing the TARDIS key the Doctor gave her, in _the Seventh Segement_ , every single day. So much so that she forgets she's wearing it. She assumes that the key was given to her because it scared off the vampires, during that year.
> 
> Hope that clears a few things up.

Willow, in the living room, gave a cry of indignation.

Giles looked up from his research. "You found something?"

Xander rushed into the room. "What?" he asked. "What did you find? Did Seo kill someone?"

Willow raised up Buffy's phone, where she'd been working on figuring out what, exactly, Seo had done earlier that day.

"She hacked into the Archangel Network!" Willow cried. "That is… just… so rude to Mr. Saxon!"

Giles and Xander exchanged glances.

"So… Seo _didn't_ kill anyone," Xander clarified. "She just cheated Harold Saxon out of a few dollars."

"Willow's right," Giles said, getting up from his research, and walking over to them. "This could be terribly serious."

"Could be?" said Willow. "It _is_!"

"Uh… we are still talking about a cell phone network, right?" asked Xander. "Just to make sure no one's overreacting, here?"

"This is positive proof that Seo is a threat," Willow insisted. "If we keep her around, who knows what could happen. There's only one person who can deal with this."

"Harold Saxon," Giles confirmed.

"Exactly," said Willow. "We've got to warn him! Before it's too late!"

"Woah, woah, woah!" said Xander. "Let's not start warning government politicians that Seo's dangerous until we've at least talked it over with Buffy."

"There is a very real chance that Buffy won't be able to handle this," Giles replied. "Harold Saxon must be informed. That much is clear." He took off his glasses, and sighed. "I simply wish I knew how to reach him."

"Couldn't we send him an email or something?" asked Willow.

"Assuming he checks his email," said Giles. "Or even pays attention to our warning. He would probably dismiss us as being overzealous crackpots. Seo would remain at large, Harold Saxon would be ignorant of her, and that could lead to certain catastrophe."

"Yeah, that would be really bad," said Willow. "Seo's a threat. We've got to tell Harold Saxon. That's obvious."

Xander, not sure what the hell he was missing this time, but sure that it had to be something important and probably pretty obvious to Giles and Willow, snatched the phone off the table, and jumped back, away from the others.

"Okay," he said. "Go over this again, slower. Seo's hacked into the Archangel Network. Which… is a threat… why? And why are we telling Mr. Politician about it, and not Buffy?"

Willow sighed. "Xander, give us back the phone," she said. "You're not going to understand."

"Why not?" Xander demanded.

"Because you didn't even think Elizabeth was all that bad," Willow pointed out to him. "And she killed off the entire town of Sunnydale."

"She was a victim!" Xander insisted.

"Much as I hate to say it, you do seem to have… rather… a weakness," said Giles, "for anyone who… physically resembles Buffy."

"Seo's been making eyes at you and telling you how much she trusts you," said Willow, "and you just believed her. Like she was innocent."

Xander shrugged. "Okay. Okay!" he said. "I'll admit it. I like Seo. I think she's an okay person. And I still don't get why Seo's a threat, or what she's done."

"She hacked into the Archangel Network!" Willow reminded him.

"To do what?" asked Xander.

Willow hesitated. "I… don't know," she admitted. "I couldn't figure out how to hack into the Network myself."

"So… it could be okay!" said Xander. "She might not have done anything bad."

"Might I remind you," Giles pointed out, "that after Seo's interference, Torchwood completely ignored Buffy, despite their previous inclination to do otherwise."

"G-man," said Xander. "Seriously. It's a _cell phone network_. Not a brainwashing machine."

The others said nothing.

"We are all agreed on that, right?" said Xander. "Really. This is a cell phone network we're talking about. So unless Seo's planning to sell all our phone numbers to telemarketers, I'm guessing she's not up to anything really evil."

Willow stared down at her own shoes. Then muttered, "I guess."

Xander let out a breath of relief. He'd figured that, after they'd all been caught up by that Elizabeth thing, everyone would be really quick to jump on Seo. But… this… was just ridiculous. Hacking into Archangel made you… more dangerous than anything Buffy could handle? More dangerous than even the First Evil? Geeze.

"Then we're agreed," said Xander. "We ask Buffy. No alerting government officials."

"I suppose… I'll defer to Buffy's judgment," Giles conceded. "But I still believe we might be making a grave mistake about all of this."

"About all of what?" asked Buffy, as she walked into the house, Seo close behind.

"Seo," Willow announced, "hacked into the Archangel Network."

Buffy waited for Willow to go on. But Willow had finished.

"And…?" Buffy asked.

Willow hesitated.

"What did she do?" Buffy asked Willow. "When she hacked in?"

"I… don't know," Willow admitted.

"I told Torchwood's phone network to ignore your phone," Seo explained to Buffy. "Then I tried to call Giles. But no one picked up."

Willow leveled a suspicious glare at Seo.

Buffy turned to Xander, and took the phone out of his hands. She looked at the 'recent calls' list, and found… to her astonishment… that there was a call made to Giles. And at precisely the time Seo had claimed to have made it.

"She's telling the truth," said Buffy. "She made their phones ignore my phone."

"Then why did the Torchwood _agents_ ignore you?" Willow demanded.

Buffy sighed. "They're Torchwood," she said, with a shrug. "They've probably got some phone-connecting-to-brain experiment thing going on. Torchwood's weird like that."

"Yeah?" said Willow. "Well, I still say Seo's a threat. And we should report her to Harold Saxon."

Buffy actually hit her head against the wall, this time. "Do you know how little I care about Harold Saxon?!" Buffy demanded. "I've got stuff to deal with, Willow. Real stuff. Whatever Archangel Harold Saxon thing you're going on about — it's not going to end the world!"

Xander sighed. Yep. He'd expected this, and Willow should have, too. Politics always made Buffy really edgy, these days.

Then Buffy spun around, and realized that Seo wasn't where she'd left her. In fact, Seo was over on the other side of the room, picking a book out of the bookshelf. A thoughtful expression on her face.

"Seo," said Buffy.

Seo started out of her reverie. Then pulled the book out. "Why do you have two copies of this?" she asked Giles, showing him the book _Twilight_. "You're not a teenage girl."

"There are twenty lying about the house," Giles muttered. "Buffy leaves them here."

Seo frowned. She turned to Buffy. "Why do you have twenty copies of _Twilight_?"

"I don't," said Buffy. "I've got 64."

Seo's eyes widened. "64?"

Buffy shook her head. "I can't believe this," she said. "The world's being invaded by crazy ghost things. And all we can talk about is the Archangel Network. And _Twilight_!"

"She gets them as presents," Xander explained to Seo. "Because she dated vampires."

"Sixty four people know that she dated vampires?" Seo asked.

Xander faltered. No, most people didn't know that. And… Seo was actually… making… kind of a good point.

"And why hasn't anyone given her the sequel, yet?" asked Seo. "Why no _New Moon_? Why just _Twilight_?"

Everyone looked at everyone else. Not really sure what to say.

"Okay," said Xander. "You got us. Why?"

"Why should I tell you?" asked Seo. "I thought you were going to turn me into the government for hacking a mobile phone network."

No one said anything.

Seo then turned to Willow, dropping the book onto the ground. Her eyes suddenly cold, serious, and staring. "Yes. I did hack into the Archangel Network," she said. "And I used your personal information to cover my tracks." She stepped forward, her voice lowering a hair, in a menacing half-whisper. "I have no identity, here. I'm no one. I don't exist. You do. And if you report any of my actions to the authorities, all I have to do is run away. And leave you to take the fall."

Everyone's jaws dropped.

Willow was livid. "Why you… miserable… evil…!"

Seo shrugged. "I just thought you should know." Then she spun around, and left the room.

* * *

Giles had had some difficulty sleeping, that night. His nerves were rattled, his worries all circling around his head with no way of stopping them. He went down to the kitchen, to fix himself up a glass of warm milk, or something else that might help him get to sleep.

A clang reverberated from underfoot.

Giles paused. Then ventured down to the cellar, flipping on the lights and squinting through the brightness.

Seo spun around to face him, her eyes wide. She moved, slightly, so she was standing just in front of the weapons chest she'd — somehow — managed to break into.

"You're awake," she said.

Giles thought the more interesting point was that _she_ was awake — and had broken out of the locked bedroom. And then broken into his weapons chest.

"Seo," said Giles. "What, precisely, are you doing?"

Seo looked down at the open weapons chest. Then back over at Giles. "I'm scuba diving in the Antarctic. What does it look like I'm doing?"

Fair point.

"Then perhaps the question I should be asking is… why?" Giles said, slowly advancing towards her. Well aware that if she wanted to, she could grab any weapon in the chest, and kill him in an instant.

"You're right," Seo agreed, bouncing on her toes, a grin on her face. "That would be a much better question!"

Giles said nothing, but continued to slowly advance towards Seo.

Seo reached down, and Giles froze. Glancing around for something he could use to defend himself. He grabbed a stray hammer, left over from some other project Seo had been up to, down here, and wielded it in front of himself, as if it were a deadly weapon.

Seo brought out a small wrapper from her pocket, and extended it to Giles. "Do you want some chocolate?" she asked.

Giles faltered. Lowering the hammer, slightly. "No… I…" He cleared his throat, trying to get his wits about him.

Seo's eyes flicked over to the hammer. She frowned. "That's not a very good weapon." She turned back to the weapons cabinet, and brought out a broadsword. Then slid it across the cellar ground towards Giles. "This is a much better one."

"What?" said Giles.

Seo shrugged. "Well, I don't want to die by being hit over the head with a hammer," she said. "That would just be embarrassing."

Giles felt all the anger and frustration that had been building up inside of him, over the past few days, now swelling to the surface, as he dropped the hammer onto the ground and grabbed Seo by the arm, dragging her away from the weapons cabinet, and glaring at her.

"You listen to me," he warned. "I don't understand how you're fooling Buffy, but I know you're up to nothing good. You're a threat. Plain and simple."

Seo looked away, down at the ground. Then, in a soft voice, "How much do you know?"

"I…" Giles trailed off. Then frowned. He had an almost instinctive feeling that Seo was a threat, but very little tangible evidence to prove it. But he knew, he was _certain_ , that Seo was terribly dangerous. Willow had shown that, hadn't she?

"Oh," said Seo, a little relieved. "You… haven't worked out any of it. At all."

"I know you threatened Willow," Giles said. "And that you've been purposely trying to get close to Buffy. And you've been attempting to sweet-talk Xander. I believe you're manipulating us for your own ends."

"Willow? You mean with the Archangel thing?" Seo cringed. "I'm sorry about that. I didn't realize how much people on Earth at this time idolized anyone or anything having to do with mobile phones."

And here she was. Acting like a frightened child who knew nothing, once more. Manipulation on a massive scale, and Giles wasn't falling for it.

"You told Torchwood that you were Buffy," he said, "because you wanted her to rescue you. You wanted to get close to her, so that you could murder her."

Seo absorbed this with a frown of concentration on her face. Then, "Why?"

"That's hardly as important as the fact that I'm going to stop you," Giles retorted. "I will ensure you never succeed in your—"

"No, I mean, why would I kill her?" Seo asked him. "I suppose I could. But it would be difficult. A puzzle, working out how to do it. Make it stick." She shook her head, and gave a small laugh. "But… well, think about it. Logically. Killing Buffy is fairly difficult. Getting her powerless and out of the way would be a lot easier. And a lot more effective."

Giles stared at Seo. "I'm sorry?"

"See, if I wanted to get her out of the way," said Seo, "all I'd have to do is make sure Torchwood knew she'd rescued me. That she was on my side. I could run off and escape while she was caught and locked away. That would be far more effective than killing her."

Giles wasn't sure what to say.

"On the other hand, if I killed her," said Seo, "really killed her, so she didn't come back, all sorts of bad things might happen. Buffy would probably become a martyr, causing…" Seo stopped. A gleam in her eyes. "Oh. I see. You think I want to take over the world."

"I think what?"

"That's how I'd do it, at any rate," Seo explained. "Take over the world." She furrowed her brow. "It would work better, actually, if Ria was the one who assassinated Buffy. That would put back her reforms."

Giles was at a loss for words, now. "You're trying to take over the world?"

"I could do it that way," Seo reflected. "I think." She thought it over. "Yes, I'm sure I could. Actually, it wouldn't really be that difficult. Find a way to provoke Ria into assassinating Buffy, permanently, so that Buffy becomes a martyr. The Slayer School would go through an extremist backlash against Ria's ideals, and become a ready army of fanatical trained super-humans. Then, of course, if I were also in charge of the ghosts… well, they'd be the first invasion force. The Slayers would keep order after the world had ended. And… it would all be very simple, really."

Giles was dumbfounded.

Seo sighed. "But that seems like a lot of work. And it wouldn't be much fun."

"You're _not_ trying to take over the world?" Giles asked. "You said…"

"I said I _could_ ," Seo replied. "I never said I wanted to."

"But you're a threat," Giles insisted. "You confessed that yourself! You're here to murder Buffy!"

Seo stared at him, very hard. For a moment, she said nothing.

"You love her," she said, softly. "Really love her. As if… she were your own child."

Giles was caught off guard by this sudden change in conversation. But pulled himself together, quick as he could, and leveled a challenging glare at Seo.

"Yes," he hissed at her. He stepped in, closer, his grip tightening on her arm. "And let me warn you. If you do anything remotely harmful to Buffy — in any way — I will kill you. No questions asked."

Seo said nothing.

Giles dragged Seo out of the cellar, and locked her back into the secured bedroom. Then hammered a number of boards across the outside, just to make certain she stayed put.

And went to bed.

Inside the room, Seo stared at the locked door, knees tucked up to her chest, back leaning against the side of the bed.

Then she buried her face in her knees, and cried.


	10. Chapter 10

Seo had only been around for a week and a half, when Buffy got the news.

"I'm only going to be gone for a few days, max," Buffy told them, as she packed up her things back at her apartment. "UNIT's just got some unbeatable monster crisis going on in Ireland, and I've got to see them through it."

"But… Seo…" Willow protested.

Buffy turned to Willow. "Set up a magical barrier around the house," she instructed. "Keep her locked up, secure, and — above all — don't tell anyone she's here. _Anyone_. You got that?"

Xander knew that this would eventually break down into a full-scale fight between Willow and Buffy, particularly because it was pretty obvious that Willow still wanted to tell Harold Saxon. And Buffy always got really pissy when people mentioned political things, like Harold Saxon. So! In the hopes of avoiding the impending argument, Xander decided to skedaddle out of there ASAP.

Best excuse for getting out of a Buffy-Willow shouting match?

"Someone should probably keep an eye on Seo!" he told them, as he fled Buffy's apartment.

Giles, of course, was already keeping an eye on her. Two eyes, actually. But, hey, Xander could contribute a third. And even a fourth, if Giles would count Xander's glass eye.

As it turned out, it was a good thing Xander had shown up. As usual, they'd locked Seo in her room before they went to bed, and since — today — Xander and Willow were at Buffy's for most of the morning, they'd decided to keep her locked in there.

No one had actually noticed that she'd escaped.

After a thorough search of the house revealed nothing, Xander discovered Seo in Giles' backyard. Lying, belly-down, on the grass, chin resting on her left hand, which lay upon the ground. An acorn in her right.

"Let me talk to her," Xander told Giles. "You stay here and… I don't know. Make tea, or eat crumpets, or do something else English."

He knew that Giles made Seo a little nervous. And after that completely weird, nonsensical Archangel hacking incident — Xander definitely got why.

"I don't feel comfortable letting you go out there alone," Giles told him.

"Buffy'll be here, pretty soon," Xander guessed. "She'll check up and make sure things are okay. And besides. If Seo does try to murder me, I'll scream very loud."

Not that he thought Seo actually would. Xander had never really got the 'murderer' vibe from her.

He walked out into the backyard, and noticed that a squirrel was perched on its hind legs, just in front of her, its eyes open wide and fixed, intently, on hers.

Xander stepped forwards, and accidentally snapped a twig beneath his feet.

The squirrel looked up at him, then scurried back into the trees at the far side of the yard.

Seo sighed, and muttered beneath her breath, getting up off the ground. She turned to Xander. "I hope you're happy. Now I have to start all over again!"

"Start what?" asked Xander.

"The hypnosis, of course," said Seo, brushing the grass off her clothes. "Buffy said I could hypnotize people, and I wanted to see if she was right."

"So… you started… with squirrels," Xander checked.

Seo shot him her normal radiant smile. Then turned around, and began chittering at the squirrel in the tree, coaxing him forwards. He gradually poked his head out, glancing between Xander and Seo, and then deciding that — perhaps — he could risk coming out and doing what Seo wanted.

"Is it working?" Xander whispered at her.

"I haven't started, yet," Seo replied.

Xander looked over at the squirrel, waiting for Seo in the middle of the grass, where they'd been before. "So… how'd you get him to come with you?"

"I offered him chocolate," said Seo, reaching into her pocket, and breaking off a small cluster of chocolate. Then handed the rest of the candy bar to Xander. "You want some?"

Xander took the candy from Seo. But… didn't eat it. Not yet, at least. He might not think Seo was out to murder him, but the jury was still out on what Seo was actually up to. And why she'd been in jail, before.

(If she really had been.)

She lay down on her stomach, just the way she'd been before, so that she was eye to eye with the squirrel, before giving him the chocolate. He took it, and munched on it, happily.

Seo gave a small chittering sound, and the squirrel looked up at her, catching her eyes with his own.

"Good," said Seo, now in English, her voice smooth and calm. "Now. You are fully under my power. You will obey my orders without question. Do you understand?"

The squirrel chittered in affirmation.

"Then I order you to… jump up and down!" said Seo.

The squirrel gave an annoyed chitter back.

"Well… could you just scratch your nose?" Seo asked.

The squirrel made a sound that was suspiciously similar to a scoff.

"Come on," Seo pleaded. She raised up the acorn in front of the squirrel. "Please? I'll give you an acorn if you do."

The squirrel took the acorn, but didn't seem any more inclined to do what she asked.

"Maybe he doesn't understand you," Xander volunteered.

"He understands me," Seo replied. "I've got a link to his head. He's just being stubborn." She focused her eyes more intensely on the squirrel. "Okay. You. Squirrel. Scratch your head. I command you."

The squirrel snapped something back at her.

"What's he saying?" asked Xander.

"He wants to know why he should take orders from some cheesy, clichéd pink-hairless-thing," Seo replied.

"Well, you _did_ use a seriously clichéd hypnosis line, when you started," Xander offered. "Maybe he's reacting to that. Try something else."

Seo focused on the squirrel. Tented her fingers in front of her face, and in her most commanding voice, said, "I am Seosyrae, and you will obey—"

The squirrel threw the acorn into Seo's face.

"Ow!" said Seo, jerking upright, as the squirrel ran away. She jumped to her feet, noticing the retreating animal. "I command you to… run away!" she shouted. "Climb up that tree! Hide… in…" Seo's face fell, as she realized that commanding the animal to do what it was already doing was not exactly the point of hypnosis.

"So you're not a hypnotist," said Xander. "Big deal." He broke off some of the chocolate from the bar she'd given him, and plopped it in his mouth. "You can still bribe people with chocolate."

Seo turned back to Xander, and he faltered, as he noticed the seriously disappointed look on her face.

"Seo, it's really not the end of the world," said Xander. "Take it from me. As someone who deals with apocalypses all the time — this _isn't_ the end of the world."

"I know, but… Buffy said I _could_ ," Seo explained to him.

"Well, yeah, but…" Xander drifted off. As something occurred to him. "Oh. You're upset because _Buffy_ said you could do it, and…"

Seo shuffled her feet against the ground, awkwardly. Eyes fixed on her shoes.

"…and you don't want to disappoint her," Xander realized.

Wow. Talk about a very weird mom-daughter dynamic.

"You do know that Buffy was only telling you that because she was afraid you were going to use hypnosis to take over the world, right?" Xander asked.

"Of course."

"Oh. Yeah. Of course. Obviously," Xander agreed. "Except… if you know that… then why do you still want to do it?"

Seo shrugged, glancing up at him. "I just thought… maybe… I could."

Xander really hoped this wasn't a cry-for-attention thing, like Dawn used to do. Because if Seo destroyed the world just to get Buffy to notice her, then Buffy was going to get seriously pissed off.

Still…

"Try it on me!" Xander offered.

Seo frowned, a little taken aback. "What?"

"Maybe squirrels are un-hypnotizable," said Xander. He spread his arms. "Go on. Try it on me. Maybe it'll work!"

Seo hesitated. Then stepped forwards, reached out to his head and, very gently, tilted it down so that his eyes were staring straight into her own.

"If this hurts, or you don't like it," Seo instructed, "tell me, and I'll stop. Okay?"

"Gotcha," said Xander.

(Not like he was expecting it to work, anyways. He just figured he'd give her a break, and do what she told him, pretending he was hypnotized.)

Then Seo's eyes sharpened in intensity, as she looked into his… no, deeper than that… all the way past his eyes and down into his soul… and he felt himself… drifting. Not drifting, exactly. Just… okay, maybe just dizzy. Except not dizzy, either.

And then it was gone. And he felt normal. Except… not normal. Something inside his mind was different. Somehow. Not a lot different. Just like… something had shifted, very slightly, in his psyche.

When Seo spoke, again, her voice resonated through his mind — soft, gentle, calming. Her voice felt like something he recognized, felt familiar with. Wanted to hear more of.

"Are you all right?" she asked. "Do you want me to go on?"

"Fine," said Xander, still staring deep into the depths of her brown eyes. Only just noting the flutter of her lashes, every time she blinked — the way they caught the sunlight.

"Then…" she hesitated, again, then went on, "Xander, you are in my power, and you will obey me without question."

"Why?" asked Xander.

And he really meant it. Really wanted to know. With a sudden, burning curiosity that had overtaken him. Why? What was the point of living in a society where no one asked questions? How could people learn if they didn't ask questions? And if Seo asked him to do something morally irresponsible — could he at least debate her about their ideas?

Seo faltered. "Because… I told you to. And my word is final."

Except… Xander wasn't really all that interested in what Seo was telling him, anymore. Because he'd started looking at the world around him. And… there were just so many more questions, so many other things he wanted to know! What would it feel like to walk on the moon, or float around in zero gravity? How many varieties of squirrel were there? Did they all speak the same language? Ooh! And this hypnosis thing! That was pretty neat. Was this kind of telepathic hypnosis more effective or less effective than the kind that stage hypnotists used on Earth?

Seo cleared her throat. Trying to sound commanding. "Xander. I order you. Sing 'Carmina Burana'. In Esperanto."

And the weird thing was… Xander knew how to do it. Even though he was pretty sure he didn't know either Esperanto or 'Carmina Burana'. But Xander only noted this vaguely, in his mind. Because he was lured in by the questions. By the desire to know, to see, to wonder. To understand.

"Why?" asked Xander. "That doesn't sound like fun. Let's do something interesting. Like… figuring out how fast we can heat-blast a turkey using high-grade explosives!"

Seo stepped back from Xander. Her face suddenly turning pale. "What…?"

And there was something niggling in Xander's mind, now. Something he could pick out, just faintly, at the edges of his perception.

"What's that about… a 'plan'?" asked Xander.

Slam!

Xander blinked, as he felt some mental doorway slam down on his mind, and the connection between himself and Seo was broken. Seo was staring at Xander with wide eyes, her mouth dropping open, as if she were trying to speak, but couldn't.

Xander simply tried to process exactly what had just happened.

"I… I…" Seo shook her head. "I was tricking you. Brainwashing you. It was evil. It wasn't…"

"Oh, yeah," said Xander. "That was evil, all right. You're way up there with Dracula in terms of the evil-brainwash." He broke off a piece of chocolate, and shoved it in his mouth. "I mean, if we'd continued, we might have spontaneously broken out into some political or moral debate. Horror of all horrors."

Seo said nothing for a long moment. Then, in a quiet, slightly desperate voice, "Xander…"

"See, usually," Xander explained to Seo, "when evil villains brainwash you to obey their orders without question, they aren't also putting little suggestions into your head, asking you to question _everything_."

"I didn't… I guess I just lost…" Seo hesitated. Then stood upright, and fixed a bright smile on her face that didn't completely cover her nerves. "Maybe I should stick to chocolate."

And then it occurred to Xander. All at once. Why Seo was so nervous. Why she'd shut him out.

"Oh!" he said. Pointing the chocolate bar at Seo. "You didn't mean to do that. The questions, the curiosity, the resistance to authority — that was _you_. _Your_ thoughts, accidentally being beamed into my head."

Seo didn't say anything.

"That's why you can't hypnotize anyone," said Xander. "Because you don't _want_ people to obey your orders without question. You want the _questions_."

Seo looked away.

Xander stepped forwards, a little closer to Seo. "You're not evil at all, are you?" he said. "You're not even remotely a threat."

Seo gave him a hard, dark stare. "You wouldn't say that if you knew."

"Knew what?" asked Xander.

Seo opened her mouth to reply, then bit her lip. She hesitated a long while, then said — in a dark tone of voice, "You're right. I'm planning something. Something big. Dangerous. And you can't stop me."

That put Xander on edge a little. Because when she'd said it — for just that instant — there'd been something cold and icy inside of her. He blinked, and the menacing look was gone from Seo's eyes.

"What are you planning?" he asked.

"To open the Hellmouth and end the world," said Seo, with a shrug.

Xander frowned. "There… isn't a Hellmouth in London," he reminded her.

"That was my first problem," Seo agreed. "Yes."

Xander stepped forwards. Taking a gamble. He leaned down, to look right in Seo's eyes. "And your second," he said, "is that you don't _want_ to end the world."

Seo said nothing for a long moment.

Then, quietly, "What do you know?"

"Well, basically, I don't know anything," Xander told her. "I'm just good old idiot Xander!"

Seo's dark expression lightened, and a happy grin spread across her face. "And I'm good old idiot Seo," she agreed. Then swept him up into a hug that made Xander… a little more tingly than he should be around someone that (he was pretty sure) was Buffy's daughter.

Who was _definitely_ older than seventeen.

No matter what she wanted them to think.

"Well!" said Seo, as she pulled away. "I'd better go warn Buffy that I'm hypnotizing squirrels and acting all suspiciously. If I was Buffy, I'd be keeping a closer eye on me. I might be an evil threat who's up to no good!"

Xander stared at her. "Seo, why would you warn Buffy about…?"

"What?" asked Seo, disappearing into the house. "Everyone else is doing it. I just want to be popular!"

Xander shook his head, and followed her inside. He stopped following Seo, as he noticed Willow, now propped in front of the TV, watching Harold Saxon making a speech to an adoring crowd.

And… it was weird… very, very weird… because while Xander had seen this guy on TV a ton of times, before, and heard Willow enthuse about him for hours on end, now… this time… Xander had the strangest feeling… almost like…

"I've met that guy before," Xander told Willow, pointing at the screen. "In Sunnydale. I'm _sure_."

Willow looked back at Xander like he was crazy. "When?"

But Xander had no idea.

Upstairs, he could hear Seo talking to Buffy, and Buffy sounding none too happy about it. A cheer rose up from the crowd on the TV, music blaring out through the speakers of the auditorium. Xander tapped out the rhythm of the music, subconsciously, trying to figure out what Seo's deal really was.

"Xander!"

Xander started out of his reverie, and realized that Willow was looking at him, pointedly.

" _When_ have you met Harold Saxon?" she asked.

Xander shrugged the question off. "Never. Sorry. I just… brain's still kind of scrambled."


	11. Chapter 11

If any of them had been in any question about which of them was really in control of Seo, it would have been answered the moment Buffy left. Because the moment Buffy left was the moment Seo became uncontainable.

She seemed to be able to escape any locked door. Any latched window. She had even exhibited some of Buffy's Slayer strength, once, by forcing the door off its hinges, and exiting through the other side.

And the magical barrier that Willow had constructed around the house? The one that had held back an uber-vamp?

Well, it didn't hold back Seo.

"What… how…?" Xander spluttered, as he caught Seo half-way out the door, right in the middle of Willow's magical barrier.

"I was just going out for a while," Seo explained to him. "You were all busy, so I decided not to disturb you."

"You're breaking through Willow's barrier!" Xander said.

Seo looked around herself, a little confused. "What barrier?"

There were a lot of late-night meetings about why Willow's barrier wasn't working. A lot of late-night meetings about why nothing else they could use was working. A lot of late-night meetings that… usually… wound up interrupted by Seo.

"I was just getting a glass of milk," Seo explained to them, walking through their meeting, one night. Then noticed the way they were glaring at her. "Oh, were you talking about me?"

And she always sounded so innocent, when she did it. As if she had no idea, whatsoever, why they objected.

But it was pretty obvious. Seo knew everything. She practically told them as much.

Giles, trudging through the streets of London one afternoon, searching for Seo, was thinking about just how much he hated Seo's innocent act. Just how much he hated her callous approach to others — as if all of this were just a game to her. Hypnotizing squirrels indeed! What was she playing at?

He stopped, as he found her, standing on the pavement, head bent down, examining an item in her hands with a curious glimmer in her eyes.

She glanced up, and, noticing him, stashed the item away in a pocket. Looking at him with wide, innocent eyes.

"Care to explain yourself?" Giles demanded, marching towards her.

Seo's face lit up into a dazzling smile. "You found me!" she said. "That means, this time, it's _your_ turn to hide, and _my_ turn to go seek."

Giles grabbed her hand out of her pocket, but it was empty. And he knew, from past experience, that if he searched through her pockets, he'd find nothing at all. He gave her his best menacing look. "What were you examining, just now?"

"A seashell," said Seo. "It washed ashore, and I picked it up."

Which was, quite possibly, the most ludicrous thing she could have said.

"We're nowhere near the sea!" Giles told her.

"That's what I told it," said Seo. "I told it that it couldn't exist, because that would be ridiculous. But that seashell just wouldn't pop out of existence." She tilted her head to the side. "I wonder if it knows it shouldn't exist."

Giles was about to reprimand her for speaking nonsense, when he heard a growl from beside them. Seo snapped her head around, eyes wide, and backed further and further towards Giles, as the monster emerged.

It was a tall, dark, lumbering creature, that sought them out with glowing green eyes. Giles fervently wished that he'd been with Buffy and not Seo, since — Slayer strength or not — he didn't trust Seo to fight this monster off. Not one bit.

Giles glanced around, trying to find something to defend himself with, when he heard a scream from Seo, as she was torn out of his hands, and manhandled by the creature before them. She struggled, and the creature swiped at her with its claws, drawing blood along her arm. Giles raced forwards, trying to extract Seo from the creature's hold, when…

The crackle of breaking glass, nearby, and then a sharp howl of pain from the creature.

Seo was dropped to the pavement, as the creature lost its grip on her, instead clutching its foot, in pain. It had stepped on something — a vial of foul-smelling liquid, now discoloring the creature's skin. A foul-smelling liquid that smelled distinctly like the mixture Seo had been cooking, when she first awoke in his house.

Seo rolled back to her feet, breathing heavily, wincing as she clutched her injured arm. The creature turned on Seo, and growled again.

Seo shuddered back, and issued her own set of growls and snaps and hisses at the creature, quietly but seriously.

They were… _speaking_ , Giles realized with a start. Having an actual civilized conversation. The topic of their conversation, of course, eluded Giles completely, but he was certain they were conversing.

And that was when Giles began to notice something odd about the creature. Something he recognized, from a book he'd once read…

Then the creature, seemingly from nowhere, produced a gun, and pointed it at Seo. Seo froze, her eyes fixed on it.

The creature spoke again — it sounded like a warning.

Seo said nothing for a long moment. Then, gave a short, sharp reply.

The gun went off.

But Seo had already rolled out of the way, snatching up another vial from inside her jacket, and flinging it at the creatures' eyes. It roared in pain, and Seo, getting to her feet, grabbed Giles by the arm and ran.

They darted down the street, turning a corner, then down another one. The pedestrians nearby giving the same rather startled looks, but clearly feeling it wasn't their place to intervene. The creature was gaining on them, and Giles knew that they were running straight for a crowded street, filled with cars and people.

It'd be thoroughly irresponsible to lead the creature there.

It never came to that. Seo pushed Giles out of the way, where he stumbled and fell against the ground. He shuffled back to his feet, to see the creature approaching Seo, who was standing with her hands in the air, backing slowly away from it.

The creature spoke to Seo again, but this time, she didn't answer. Just kept moving backwards.

Her eyes subconsciously glanced down at the road just in front of her. The road where, Giles realized, she'd pulled the cover off of a manhole.

The creature spotted it, too.

The creature stopped, giving Seo something that sounded like an annoyed complaint. Probably along the lines of 'how stupid do you think I am?'

Seo narrowed her eyes, and charged towards the creature.

Leaping across the manhole, sliding across the asphalt just in between the creature's legs, before she vaulted him into the air in a perfect arc so that he landed — with a splash — inside the sewer.

Seo grabbed the manhole cover and clanged it down, panting for breath. Her eyes landed on Giles.

"We have to leave," she told him. "Right now."

"But…" Giles began.

However, Seo didn't give him a chance to finish, as she'd already dragged him to his feet, and begun shoving him back towards his house.

* * *

"So that creature thing is still out there, eating and shooting people?" asked Willow. "She left it right next to a crowded street?"

Giles flipped through one of his books, in his study, trying to find the creature in question. He stopped, when he discovered the correct entry.

"I was right," he said. "An Etchohaphero Demon. One of the very rare non-violent demon varieties."

"Non-violent?" asked Willow. "I thought you said it tried to kill Seo."

"Quite," Giles agreed.

Willow read through the description, concern written all over her features. She shook her head.

"According to Xander, Seo told him the creature was desperate," said Willow. Then she shrugged. "Of course, she refused to say desperate about what, but that's Seo for you. It might not even be true."

"Perhaps the demon was hired by her former jailers?" Giles suggested. "A demon working to bring justice to the world?"

"Maybe," said Willow. "That would make sense." She sighed. "At least, if it's non-hostile, it won't try to kill anyone else. I wonder what Seo was locked up for?"

Giles grumbled something about Buffy-look-alikes being far more psychotic than they really should be, considering the original Buffy.

But Willow had noticed something else. A few faint fingerprints, along the edge of the pages. Willow picked the book up, and sniffed at one of the fingerprints.

"Chocolate," she confirmed.

Giles was livid. "Seo has stolen my book, and then perused the pages with filthy hands!" he shouted.

Willow flipped through the book, quickly, trying to find the source of the fingerprints. Which page Seo had been looking for, which page she'd been reading.

Willow stopped, as she found the entry with the smudged chocolate fingerprint by the title. As if Seo had attempted to wipe it away, but been interrupted.

"The Seed of Wonder," Willow read aloud.

Giles frowned. "The Seed of what?"

"The Seed of Wonder is a myth, passed down for generations, of a mystical object that was once the source of magic and power on this world," Willow read. "According to legend, the Seed of Wonder once floated through the heavens, until it arrived on this world, and imbued the soil with its soul. It was said to have existed before all things, and that its destruction would herald the end of the world."

"And Seo is looking for it," Giles guessed.

"The Seed of Wonder was destroyed," Willow continued to read, "millions of years ago, before man ever set foot upon the Earth. While no archaeological evidence has been found to support the Seed's existence, it is well known that the Seed was smashed into a million pieces by a 'falling rock from heaven'. The destruction of the Seed of Wonder caused the sky to turn black, all plant life to die out, and nearly all animal life on Earth to become extinct, save for…" Willow stopped, and frowned.

"Save for?" Giles prompted.

"Save for a few small mammalian animals, hiding in caves," Willow read, "which eventually evolved into humanity."

For a moment, neither of them said anything.

"That article raises a lot more questions than it answers," Willow said.

"Could I…?" Giles asked, reaching for the book.

Willow handed it to him.

Giles analyzed the passage, carefully. "There are many things about this account that don't make sense. Legends, for one. Whose legends is the book referring to? I've never heard any such legends. And… and… then there's the bit about magic. How could the Seed of Wonder have been responsible for magic? I always thought of magic more as a… vast telepathic network, binding the whole human race together, that could be used and controlled by certain persons who held mystical power."

"Giles…" said Willow.

"Perhaps the words 'magic and power' referring to something else entirely," Giles surmised. "A particular, specific sort of magical energy. Something we've lost. After all, if the Seed of Wonder was once the source of magic and power on Earth, surely its destruction should have ended that magic."

"Giles…" Willow said, again.

"And if the article was written based on legend," Giles continued, "why would they have put in the part about evolution? It almost feels contrived, as if it were made up and stuck into the book, later, as a message so we'd understand…"

"Giles," said Willow. "You're missing the big problem."

Giles looked up at her.

"If this all happened during dinosaur times," said Willow, "and no humans in the world were around to witness it — then who could have known enough to write that entry?"


	12. Chapter 12

"You don't understand," Seo pleaded with Xander, a few days later, when he stopped her just before she could escape. "I have to leave."

"And I can't come with you," Xander clarified.

"Yes."

"You see the problem with this, Seo?" Xander asked. "You leave, and don't allow anyone to see what you're doing, and then everyone goes all suspicious. And we don't know what you're doing when you're gone."

"I could be doing something good," Seo proposed. "I could be planting flowers, or teaching kids to read, or trudging through a tundra so I can save arctic seals…"

"Yeah, but if you were, then you'd probably let one of us tag along," said Xander. He crossed his arms. "You know what I think? I think you're out causing trouble, so you can convince Buffy to come home."

"I liked the arctic seals reason better," Seo replied. "It made more sense."

"Well, Willow and Giles are pretty much convinced that you're doing archaeological digs to try to find pieces from some ancient destroyed artifact called the Seed of Wonder," said Xander. "And if you're doing that, then it means you're probably going to wind up destroying the Earth's soul. So…"

"I don't want the Earth's soul," said Seo. "It's full of baby spiders."

Xander blinked. Then blinked again. Then nodded, slowly. "Right…"

"I just have to leave," Seo told him. "Please."

"Seo, just… tell me what you're doing," said Xander. "I promise, I can help. But I can't do anything, if you don't—"

"You can't help," said Seo. "Not unless you're a really, really good swimmer."

"I meant in the sense that I'll help convince Giles and Willow not to call up Torchwood and turn you in," said Xander.

Seo grinned. "They won't," she assured him. "If they turned me in, they'd generate a lot of suspicion towards Buffy. They wouldn't risk doing that to her."

Xander frowned. He hated it when Seo got all manipulative on him, like this.

"It's not the Sphere," Seo told him.

"What?"

"The Seed of Wonder," Seo explained. "I thought it was. But it turns out, it's not. And I don't think it's anything to do with the baby spiders, either."

"So… you _are_ looking for this… Seed of Wonder thing," Xander said. "Or the pieces of it, anyways."

"Of course I am," said Seo, with a grin. "Someone's shipping its shards to London. I'm intercepting the shipments, and borrowing them."

"'Borrowing'," Xander said. "You mean 'stealing'."

"Let's go with the middle ground, and call it 'strategic sabotage'," Seo replied. Her eyes danced with excitement. "I want to know about the Seed of Wonder. It's something that doesn't make sense. Like the Sphere. That didn't make sense, either. I hate things that don't make sense."

Xander remembered what Buffy had told them, when Seo first arrived. That she was purposely trying to steal Giles' really powerful magical items. And then she'd flown that kite, and found out about Archangel — but decided it was useless. And now, with this Seed of Wonder thing…

Whatever Seo was trying to do, Xander was guessing she needed power to do it. A _lot_ of power.

"Look, Seo," said Xander, "give me a break, here. You have… to…"

But he stopped. Because that was the exact moment he noticed a swarm of lizard-like black creatures, moving across the street towards them.

Seo spun around, and noticed the swarm, herself. She thrust Xander away, and slammed the front door in his face.

Xander scrambled back to his feet, and raced to the front door, flinging it open just in time to see Seo turning a corner up ahead.

Xander didn't waste any time, as he rushed out after her. Trying to do his best to keep up, even though he was just barely managing to keep the lizardy swarm in sight. He spent perhaps five minutes, trying to keep up with them, before he found himself tackled to the ground, and the lizards all burst into flame on the asphalt.

Xander looked back at the burning lizards. Then at the person who'd knocked him out of the way of whatever had been put on the asphalt to make them burn. Who was now lying right on top of him.

(Don't think about how close she is. Don't think about how close she is…)

"See?" shouted Seo, pointing at the smoldering lizard swarm things. "If you'd let me go, they'd never have known where I was staying, and I wouldn't have had to kill them!"

Xander was a little stunned. "You… knew… those things were coming?"

Seo rolled off him, crouching down beside the wall of a brick building. Eyes fixed on the ground in front of her. Arms on her knees.

She said nothing.

The moment Xander no longer had great-big-attractive-female-distraction right on top of him, his brain started working, again. And he remembered something else. That… Seo had been sneaking out a lot. And if _this_ was the real reason she was sneaking out…

"Seo, these… jailers you ran away from…" said Xander, "do they want to kill you?"

"Torchwood?" asked Seo. "Yes."

"No, before that," said Xander. "Whoever… you escaped from before."

Seo said nothing for a long time. A very long time.

Then she stood up, and offered Xander a hand, getting him to his feet. She led him across the asphalt with the fried lizards, and… back towards Giles' house, it looked like.

Xander stopped in his tracks.

Oh, no. He wasn't letting it go at that.

"You've got to tell me what's going on," Xander demanded. "We figured you were being chased by Torchwood and your jailers before them — but I'm starting to think you're in way more trouble than just that."

Seo didn't answer.

"The moment Buffy leaves, you're getting swarmed with monsters," Xander continued. "I've seen that happen before, you know. I get what that means. You specifically sought out Buffy, because the monsters that are chasing you are all scared of her."

Still, nothing.

"So come on," said Xander. "Who are you? Where are you from? What did you do? And why are you trying to make us think you're evil, when you're obviously not?"

"It… was nice," Seo said, in a very quiet voice.

Xander paused. Frowned. "Huh?"

"My… prison," said Seo. "Before Torchwood. It was nice. It didn't even really feel like prison, sometimes. It kept… me in. And it kept other things out."

Oh. Okay, then. So Xander was right.

"I thought that was what prisons were all like," said Seo. "Until… Torchwood…" She shuddered. "I was an animal to them."

Xander came closer to her, put his arm around her shoulder, led her to a bench and sat her down. The street was empty, beneath the moonlight. Empty, save for them.

"But in this _good_ prison," said Xander, "you were safe. From… lizards and things."

"And they were safe from me."

"Why?" asked Xander. "What did you do? Why were you in there?"

Seo didn't answer.

Xander sighed. He was starting to feel like a parrot. If he demanded Seo tell him what was really going on one more time, he thought he might as well call himself Polly and sit on a pirate's shoulder.

"Okay, fine," he said. "You don't want to tell me." He shook his head. "You know, way back, when I first met you, you told me you trusted me. And like a sap, I believed you."

Seo didn't answer.

"But I guess it was just another lie," said Xander, getting up from the bench.

He took a few steps forwards, trying to stop himself from looking back at Seo. Trying to leave her and all her lies behind.

"I _do_ ," said Seo, in a voice barely above a whisper.

Xander turned around, to find her slumped down on the bench, her eyes on the asphalt, her skin almost glowing beneath the moonlight.

"In prison, I used to… break out, from time to time," Seo confessed. "Whenever he was busy with something else, and I could sneak past. Make it outside. And… just… find someone. Anyone. Anyone else to talk to. I was so… _lonely_ , I just wanted…" Seo shook her head. "But… everyone else, in the world, they were busy. Running around. Doing things. They never wanted to talk to me. They never cared. And then, one day, I found you."

Xander stared at her.

"I've been talking to you for 52 years," said Seo. "Any time I could get out. Just for a few minutes. You were always… so nice. You always made time to listen to me. It was like you… understood." Her cheeks flushed a little, as she scuffed the sole of her shoe against the ground. "And I knew you wouldn't remember. Because Dad…" Seo sighed. "But every time, I just thought, _maybe, this time, he'll remember. Just because it's… me_."

Xander swallowed, hard.

"But you never did," said Seo, looking back up at him. "You never, ever remembered me."

"I… I'm sorry," Xander offered. "But I don't…"

"Please," said Seo. "Please. Xander. I don't want to go back there. Not after this — after seeing everything! Meeting everyone! I can't do it."

Xander wasn't sure what to say.

"I don't want to live like that anymore," Seo said. "Day after day after day — filled with nothing, with no one. Only ever allowed to talk to one other person. The boredom and… the loneliness. So, so much loneliness. I mean, I'm almost a century old, now, and I haven't even had my first kiss, yet! I'd never even set foot on..."

Seo stopped herself. As she realized what she'd just said.

Xander caught it, too. Caught all of them. The numbers of years she was talking about, the numbers of years that were piling up, bit by bit.

"Seo," he ventured. "How… old are you?"

"98," Seo confessed.

* * *

Buffy had arrived back in town a short time ago, to discover Xander and Seo missing. Which didn't surprise or worry her all that much. Not nearly as much as it seemed to worry Willow and Giles.

They'd come back, eventually.

They couldn't possibly be facing anything as weird as what Buffy had faced down in Ireland.

Then Willow started bringing up the usual about Seo, and Buffy was — _so_ — not in the mood for that, right now. She thought it might break down into another full on argument-fight-type thing. But, fortunately for Buffy, Dawn called.

Thank you, Dawn!

"Still feeling ignored?" Buffy asked her.

"Huh?" said Dawn. "Oh, that! No, I've worked out how to deal with it."

"Really?"

"Yeah," said Dawn. "Every single time I enter a room, I just have to jump up and down, flap my arms, and scream at the top of my lungs, 'Hello! It's me! Dawn Summers! Everybody pay attention to me!' And then they do!"

Buffy tried her hardest to stifle a laugh. She could just imagine Dawn doing this all across the Slayer Institution. And she could also imagine the weird looks Faith, Ria, Kennedy, and the others were giving her, as she did.

"So, go on!" said Dawn. "The UNIT liaison said you were up against something I totally wouldn't believe, in Ireland. Keep me in the loop!"

"Okay, okay," said Buffy. "I just got back, you know. Let me catch my breath."

"Come on," whined Dawn. "It's been, like, dullsville around here. Aside from the ghosts, we're getting, like, no good monsters. Just a bunch of death threats. All the good monsters keep going to Europe."

Buffy sat down on the living room chair, getting settled. "You ready for this?"

"Uh-huh."

Buffy paused for dramatic effect. Then: "Moving statues."

For a few moments, Dawn said nothing. Then, a disappointed, "Oh."

"What?" said Buffy. "Do you know how hard it is to beat up moving statues?"

"About as hard as it is to use a sledgehammer?" Dawn guessed.

Buffy sagged. "Well, yeah. But only someone with super Slayer strength could actually make the sledgehammer work against statues like these!"

Dawn didn't seem impressed.

"Oh, come on," said Buffy. "It's interesting!"

"Do you know how many ancient records there are of evil scary Weeping Angel statues?" asked Dawn. "I thought you'd be up against something _new_."

"They weren't Weeping Angels!" said Buffy. "They were all moderny and stylized and stuff. We went into this really ancient library to try to find records, and I met the Irish version of Giles, and he dug out this book that explained what they were. Turns out, they're something called the 'Melkur'."

"Melkur."

"Yeah, according to the book, they're creatures of pure evil," said Buffy. She shrugged. "Okay, I guess that goes without saying. But they also serve this guy called Malador, who's a super powerful, immortal creature with no soul."

"So… like always, then," said Dawn.

"Well, kind of," Buffy admitted. "Malador is from another planet, though. Before he got stuck in a dimensional thingamabob. That makes it kind of different."

The door opened, and in walked Seo and Xander. Both looked relieved to see Buffy.

Buffy waved at them. But continued her conversation.

"I thought you said you read about this in an ancient book," said Dawn. "So… dimensional thingamabob? Alien whatever? Other planets? Not really a medieval ancient kind of thing to write."

"Well, I'm pretty sure whoever wrote the entry on the Melkur was an alien," said Buffy. "Like, 95 percent positive. And based on how much it came up, I'm guessing the alien's home planet was called 'Traken'."

"Uh-huh."

"It's possible, you know," said Buffy. "Not all aliens are bad. Some are nice. Nice enough to write books warning us normal people about serious evil."

From across the room, Seo, a little confused, asked Xander who Buffy was talking to.

"I'm guessing it's just her sister," said Xander.

Seo furrowed her brow. And looked back over at Buffy.

Over the phone, Dawn was still going strong.

"So, these Melkur things were invading," said Dawn, "probably because they wanted to find some ancient artifact, buried on Earth — by this Traken Alien whatever who wrote the article — so they could open the dimension thingamabob and get Malador out?"

Buffy shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine. I was pretty preoccupied with the sledgehammer."

"At least, during this whole adventure, you managed to keep your cell phone intact," said Dawn. "This is like, what? Your fifth cell phone this year?"

"Seventh."

Dawn cracked up, and tried to hide it.

"What?" asked Buffy.

"Nothing," said Dawn, "it's just… you know, after what you told me, last time I called… I was thinking… 'breaking' — like mother, like daughter."

"Don't _you_ start," Buffy grumbled.

"You break cell phones," said Dawn, still laughing, "she breaks cell phone networks!"

"Dawn!" Buffy shouted. "Seriously. Ix-nay on the ell-phone-network-say!"

Across the room, Seo had turned very, very pale. She faltered, and for a moment, Buffy thought she was going to fall over.

Buffy swore.

"Got to go, something came up," she told her sister, then slammed down the phone on an end table, and ran over to Seo.

Seo didn't fall over. But she didn't look very well, either. She just stared at the phone, where it still lay on the end table, her eyes wide, and her breathing shallow.

"Sister," she whispered. She looked up at Buffy. "Your… your sister… is…"

"Very well defended," said Buffy. "Just so you don't get any ideas."

Xander, looking between Buffy and Seo, cringed. "Buff," he warned.

But Seo had run out of the room before he could finish his statement.

Everyone looked after her, for a moment, saying nothing.

"Well, we knew she was after a super-powerful energy source that was close to Buffy," said Willow. "I just didn't expect it to be _that_ one."


	13. Chapter 13

"She's had a rough night," Xander told them, later. "A really rough night. I don't think she was in prison just because she did something bad. I think she was in prison to keep bad stuff from getting her."

Buffy was pacing the living room, hands crossed, head bent down.

"Xander," said Willow. "The nonhuman group that's looking for Seo isn't evil. Giles and I confirmed it."

" _That_ group wasn't," Xander countered. "But it's not just one group of monsters that's after her, you know."

Buffy gave a sigh. Then turned to Xander. "Okay. One thing at a time. First. Do you have anything that would indicate Seo _isn't_ after my sister?"

Xander hesitated.

"Seo did tell us she was aiming for Sunnydale, half a decade ago," Willow put in, "and… you know… it's possible she was aiming for that exact date, with the portal thingy."

"And the items she's stolen are nearly all items that deal with vast amounts of inter-dimensional energy," Giles added.

"Yeah, thanks, but I was asking Xander," said Buffy. She looked back at Xander. "Well?"

"I don't think she would," Xander offered.

They waited for him to go on.

"That's it," said Buffy.

"Yes," said Xander. "But… I think that's enough."

Willow and Giles exchanged worried glances. Clearly, they didn't agree.

"Look, Buffy, I really, _really_ don't think she would," said Xander. "I've been hanging out around her a lot. And… she still just really doesn't strike me as the kind of person who'd kill anyone."

Buffy said nothing.

"She just seems… really…" Xander struggled to find the right word. "…lonely." He paused. "I think she was only ever really around one other person, when she was locked up. And she's been locked up for at least 52 years."

"She's 52 years old?" asked Giles.

"No, she's… 98," said Xander. Realizing that this wasn't making his case for Seo being good any easier. "But… she's not a bad demon. She's one of the good kind." Who just happened to pretend to be Buffy's future daughter, so she could track down Buffy's sister.

Willow turned on Buffy. "98," she said.

Buffy didn't answer.

"See?" said Willow. "I told you. 98. You can't ignore this, Buffy. You know what that means."

"It doesn't mean anything," said Buffy. "She could be anyone."

"What's it going to take to get you to admit it?" Willow cried. "Look, I'm sorry that this is how you're finding out, but she's your kid, she's your responsibility. I mean, do you know how dangerous it is, having a kid who's actually an evil—"

"She's not a Time Lord!" Buffy shouted, spinning around to face Willow. "I'd know if she was a Time Lord, and she isn't. There are absolutely no Time Lords on Earth right now, anywhere, and — Giles, would you put down that autobiography of Harold Saxon for two seconds?"

Giles, who had decided that he'd rather not have this argument, again, had become engrossed in his copy of Kiss Me, Kill Me: the Autobiography of Harold Saxon.

He didn't put it down.

"She isn't going to listen to you, Willow," Giles muttered, still reading the book. "You might as well give it up."

"I've got a thing in my head," said Buffy. "It goes all microwave oven light when there are Time Lords around. There aren't any. I know."

"Yeah, but Seo's part-human," said Willow. "Maybe she didn't inherit the Microwave-Oven-Light-In-Head gene."

"No!" said Buffy. "Just… no! I don't want to—"

"You have to deal with it sometime," said Willow. "When's it going to sink in? When Seo actually starts killing people? When she takes over the world? When she kidnaps Dawn? She's a Time Lord, she's been locked up in prison for at least 52 years, allowed to see _no one_. She isn't just dangerous! She's, like, mega-apocalypse-threat central!"

"A rogue Slayer is a dangerous thing," Giles agreed. "But a rogue Time Lord — that could be catastrophic." He flipped the page of his book.

"Would you guys just back off on the whole 'Seo's dad' thing?" Buffy demanded. "I know what you think, but it isn't true. Whatever Seo may look like — however old she might claim to be — that doesn't say anything about who her father is. She's probably… just… lying!"

"Oh, yeah?" said Willow. "How many hearts does she have?"

Buffy said nothing for a long moment. "That doesn't prove anything."

"Come on!" Willow complained. "We've all admitted it. You should, too."

"Uh, is anyone planning to fill me in on what, exactly, you guys are talking about?" asked Xander.

"Well, it's been quite clear for a while, now," Giles explained to Xander, lowering the book a little. "Seo's father is the Doctor."

Xander gaped at them.

"No," he said. Tried to process it. Then shook his head. "No, he can't be."

Willow muttered something under her breath.

"No," said Xander. "I mean the Doctor is just… manipulative and stuck-up and immature, he's a show-off and a liar, he has these manic mood swings and crazy stories, and… and… and that's not at all like Seo! Seo's…"

"A manipulative, stuck-up, immature liar," said Willow, "who shows off and makes up crazy stories."

"No!" insisted Xander. "She's… brave and self-confident. She has a child-like innocence, and she's upbeat and optimistic about everything — except when she gets really sad. She's got a super imagination, and…"

"Yeah, that's the positive way of putting everything that I just said," said Willow. "Manipulative. Stuck-up. Immature. Liar. Manic mood swings. Crazy stories. Q.E.D."

"But she's… sweet!" Xander insisted. "And really strong. And she's got this inner fire that kind of—"

"Xander," Buffy cut in, "do you have a crush on my fake-daughter?"

Xander faltered. "No."

"She's not your _fake_ daughter," said Willow. "She really is your daughter. She's half Buffy, half Doctor. That's how she acts. That's what she is."

"Seosyrae," Giles reminded them. "An alien name. The name her father gave her."

"And can you imagine someone more dangerous than an evil half-Buffy, half-Doctor?" asked Willow. "A _bored_ evil half-Buffy, half-Doctor? I keep expecting her to destroy the world as an amusement."

"Woah, woah, woah, wait a second!" said Xander. "If she really _is_ the Doctor's kid, then where's the Doctor in all of this? Why isn't he here, right now, helping us? And, for that matter, why didn't he bust Seo out of jail 52 years ago?"

"Because she wasn't locked up in a jail!" Buffy retorted.

Everyone fell silent around her.

"You guys haven't been in the TARDIS, that much," said Buffy. "You don't know. But I do. The way she was walking into walls, when she first showed up here. The way she said Giles' house was 'broken' because it wasn't rearranging all the rooms. The way her previous prison was impenetrable — both inside and out."

Buffy looked around at the others, but they still seemed none the wiser.

"It's the TARDIS," said Buffy. "That's where she's been imprisoned. She's been locked up, inside the TARDIS, for decades. And whatever or whoever she is… the Doctor thinks she's dangerous enough that he won't even let her have social contact with the outside world."

The others were silent.

"But why…?" asked Willow.

"Because she's _not_ our daughter," said Buffy. "She wants me to believe she is, so I'll protect her from him." She looked around. "Don't you see? The Doctor _isn't_ Seo's father. He's her _jailer_. He's the one she's running away from!"


	14. Chapter 14

"Buffy!" shouted Dawn, through the phone. "Buffy, can you hear me?"

Buffy yanked the phone away from her ear. And it didn't help that it was four in the morning, which meant that Dawn had woken Buffy up. Again.

"Dawn," said Buffy, groggily. "Time difference, remember?"

"No, Buffy, this is important!" said Dawn. "Like, serious emergency type thing. The… spell. That those monks did to create me. It's stopped working!"

Buffy tried to muddle through all this, but her mind couldn't really process what Dawn was saying — not until Buffy had had a great big cup of coffee. "Huh?"

"I'm fading away!" Dawn cried. "Fading out of existence! That's why everyone's ignoring me!"

Buffy sighed. "Dawn. Seriously. Calm down. And go to sleep."

"No, it's true," said Dawn. "Like, I went to the bank, today, and when it accessed my account, it just said, 'Welcome, Anonymous User'. And my employee records at the Slayer Institution have just gone zap. And when Ria tried to file payroll taxes, she said the government had no record of me!"

Okay. Actually, that was starting to sound kind of bad.

"And if you still don't believe me," said Dawn, "check your phone."

Buffy pulled her cell phone away from her ear, and looked at the display. Then she blinked, rubbed her eyes, and squinted at it. According to the cell phone display, Buffy wasn't making a call at all. Despite Dawn's voice on the other end, Buffy's phone wasn't calling anyone.

Buffy put the phone up to her ear. Maybe she'd just got disconnected, or something. "Hello?"

"I'm still here," said Dawn. "For now. But how much longer, Buffy? I mean, if even _Archangel_ doesn't recognize me, I must be, like, turning into a ghost or something! Maybe those monks never intended for the spell to last forever! Or maybe I did something to screw it up, and now the spell's unwinding, and…"

But Buffy had finally woken up enough that her brain was thinking, again. And it had just worked out the answer. The answer that Buffy really should have worked out before.

"Dawn," said Buffy. "You're not disappearing. Don't worry. I'm going to fix this. Just sit tight, be wary of everyone, and if you see any crazy snake-monster things coming after you, run for it."

"I… huh?"

But Buffy didn't have time to keep talking. She hung up the phone, dressed as fast as she could, and ran out of her apartment. Racing down abandoned streets, sprinting around corners, feeling the damp morning air pouring across her limbs, until…

Buffy burst through the door to Giles' house, stomped right over to Seo's room, and slammed open the door.

Seo looked up from where she lay on her bed. Trying to pretend she'd just been asleep.

But that was a lie.

Buffy stormed over to the child, and plucked the poorly concealed cell phone out of Seo's hands. Willow's cell phone. Willow's cell phone, whose display was now showing a whole bunch of computer code that was definitely not supposed to be there.

"If you have anything to say for yourself," Buffy warned, "you'd better say it now."

Seo, for a moment, seemed confused. Then grinned, and pulled out something from her night side table. "Do you want some chocolate?" she asked, handing Buffy a candy bar.

Buffy knocked the candy bar out of Seo's hand. She was way, way past that.

Seo looked down at the chocolate bar, then back up at Buffy. "If you didn't want any, you just had to say," she said.

"Seo," said Buffy. "What are you doing with this?" She thrust the phone out in front of Seo.

Seo squinted at the display. Then looked up at Buffy, a little sheepishly. "I'm just… doing… some stuff."

"Stuff like deleting my sister from the Archangel Network?" Buffy asked.

"No!" Seo insisted. She looked down at her hands, fidgeting nervously. "I deleted her from… everywhere. It wasn't _just_ Archangel."

Buffy thought that Seo was missing the point. Seriously missing the point. "Why?" Buffy snapped. "What the hell do you want with my sister?"

Seo tilted her head to the side, considering. "Well," she said, "I have to delete her from everywhere, so she becomes a non-person. That way, when I kill her, the police won't be able to identify the body."

Buffy felt her jaw drop to the floor. " _What_?!" she cried. "You… you're…"

"No," said Seo, a little exasperated. "Of course not. Don't you see how stupid that sounds?"

Buffy tried to speak, but no words came out. Actually, Buffy was only a few seconds away from grabbing Seo up and throwing her against something very, _very_ hard.

"I don't have an identity, here," said Seo. "No passport. No money. No record that I even exist. No idea where your sister lives. No way to get there, if I did. What are you expecting me to do? Swim across the Atlantic Ocean?"

Buffy gave Seo a dark stare. "You'd find a way."

"And even if I did get to this Slayer whatever, where she works," said Seo, "she's surrounded by an army of unbeatable super-people. They'd beat me in hand-to-hand combat in three seconds. And I don't know how to use a gun."

Okay, that… was actually… a good point.

"So why?" Buffy demanded. "Why are you erasing all records that Dawn exists? Why are you making people ignore her?"

"Ignore her?" asked Seo. She quirked an eyebrow. "Really? I am?"

"Yes!" Buffy shouted.

Seo seemed a little impressed with herself. "That makes things easier," she muttered. "Wonder how I did that?"

Buffy grabbed Seo by her pajama top, and dragged her forwards, so Buffy could get right in her face. "You listen to me," she warned. "I don't know who you are, or what you want. But if you do anything to my family — _anything_ at all — I will kill you. Do you understand?"

Seo didn't answer. But her previous expression flaked away like old paint, and she just looked at Buffy with a terribly sad look. As if she wanted, so much, to say something, but simply couldn't get the words out.

"Do you?" Buffy asked, but some of the fire was already draining from her voice.

Still, no answer.

And just… looking at her, that way — with that face, those eyebrows, those brown eyes — as if she were about to tell Buffy she was sorry, she was so, so sorry….

It just wasn't fair. It really, really wasn't fair.

Buffy released Seo, and stepped back from her. Watching this young-looking girl, who looked so much like Buffy, and whose eyes looked so much like someone Buffy trusted more than anyone else. Watching as Seo's eyes drifted down to the bed, her shoulders drooping, her hair tumbling across her face.

(Xander had said he thought Seo was in trouble. Really serious trouble.)

"Seo," said Buffy, a little more calmly, "why are you doing this? Why do you keep trying to make us angry at you?"

Seo didn't answer.

"You're like… a little kid, acting out so someone will notice you," said Buffy. "You're 98 years old. Can you stop acting like you're a jealous two-year-old?"

"I have to," Seo whispered, very quietly.

Buffy paused. "Have to what?"

Seo looked up at Buffy, her eyes suddenly dark, her expression angry. "Do you think I _want_ to do this?" she asked, her voice very low. "Do you think I _enjoy_ this? Do you think I'll be any happier when everything's done, I've succeeded, and the consequences…?" She stopped. Then bit her lip, and looked away.

Buffy stepped forward, a little hesitantly. Was someone forcing Seo to do something she didn't want? Was Seo not the evil criminal mastermind, but some slave forced to obey a higher power? Buffy knelt down beside Seo. "If you tell me the truth, Seo," she offered, "I can help you. Promise."

Seo snapped her head back to Buffy. Her eyes were blazing, her face filled with hurt, anger, and pain.

"Keep an eye on your sister," she said, in a low, dark, dangerous voice. "A very, very close eye. Because I'm about to do something stupid, that I know I shouldn't. And Dawn Summers is in serious, _serious_ danger."


	15. Chapter 15

Xander kept trying to see it. He kept trying to see Seo as the evil, manipulative, deadly person who wanted to kidnap Buffy's sister. He kept trying to see Seo as the kind of person who'd escape from the Doctor's TARDIS, find sanctuary with Buffy, and actually be working against them the whole time.

But… she just didn't _seem_ evil.

"If it's any consolation," Buffy told Xander, "whatever she's planning to do, I don't think she actually _wants_ to do it."

"Look, maybe… maybe we got this wrong," Xander insisted. "Maybe she has nothing to do with the Doctor, and she escaped from someone else. Some… madman… trying to get her to do evil things for him! Maybe she's been brainwashed to…"

"Xander," sighed Buffy, "she was a prisoner onboard the TARDIS. There's only one Time Lord and one TARDIS left in existence. It has to be the Doctor."

"Well, what if… someone stole the TARDIS?" asked Xander. "Someone evil. Who's brainwashed Seo into thinking she's 98 years old and trying to hurt Dawn, when actually…"

"Someone who just so happens to have a perfect understanding of Time Lord biology," said Buffy, "who also just so happens to have a sample of the Doctor's DNA, and my DNA, and has brainwashed all of us here on Earth to make us look like chumps?" Buffy shook her head. "Xander. No one like that exists. The Doctor imprisoned Seo. And whatever his reason is — I'm sure it's a really, really good one."

But it still didn't make sense to Xander. It just didn't mesh with what he knew about Seo. What he felt when he was around her.

"Is it weird that I trust you?" Xander asked her, one day.

Seo glanced up at him, through sad eyes. "No," she said. She reached out towards his left eye — the glass one — but stopped, and pulled back her hand. "You can see me. Even when you're blind, you can still see everything."

Uh-huh. Right. Okay, then.

"So why do you keep trying to get people to think that you're evil?" asked Xander.

"Maybe I am evil," Seo replied, "and I'm trying to warn you."

Xander shook his head. "Yeah, I've fought evil," he said. "Evil people don't usually care if anyone around them gets hurt. You do."

Seo laughed. "I don't care if people get hurt," she said. "I'm a criminal, remember? I'd let this whole planet blow up, if I had a way off it."

"So… go on," Xander said. He gestured at a random person, walking down the street. "If you don't actually care about people — if you really are evil — then kill that guy. I dare you."

Seo looked between the guy, and Xander. Her eyes narrowed, her jaw set. "Stop it," she warned Xander, before turning away, and leaving.

The guy walked off, unharmed. Never even aware his life had been in danger.

* * *

Giles, in his bathrobe, filled up the sink with water, and began to shave. Morning routines. Never changing, predictable-as-ever Giles, just going through his morning routine.

"Do you have to shave every day?" came a voice from behind him. "What happens if you don't?"

Giles started so badly, he nearly cut himself. He turned around, to find Seo standing behind him. Slightly to the left of him. Which was… impossible. Because he'd been looking in the mirror, staring at that exact spot! He should have seen her, should have at least noticed she was there! But… she hadn't…

She hadn't shown up in the mirror.

Giles looked back at the mirror. Then blinked. Seo's reflection was there. Just like normal.

"Is it like the tappy thing?" Seo continued. "Because humans always do that tappy thing, all the time, and I don't understand what its biological function is."

"But that… that isn't…" Giles said, looking between Seo and her reflection. One of them had to pop out of existence, at some point. Giles just wasn't sure which. "How did you do that?"

"How did I do what?" asked Seo.

Giles pointed at the mirror. "You… you didn't have a reflection, before!" he said. "When I first saw you. You didn't show up in the glass!"

Seo quirked an eyebrow. "I didn't?" She scrutinized the mirror, curiosity illuminating her face. "Can you see me, now?"

"Well, yes, of course, you're…" Giles stopped. As his brain started working. "Why… didn't you know if you had a reflection? Can't… can't you see yourself?"

"In there?" asked Seo, pointing at the mirror. She shook her head. "Never."

Giles stared at her. "I'm sorry?"

"I can't see my own reflection," Seo explained. "Other people can, I suppose. I can't." She gave a small shrug. "I don't even know what I look like."

"But…" Giles spluttered, "but… how… how could… why wouldn't…?"

Seo's eyes lit up. "Maybe I'm secretly a vampire!" she exclaimed, excitement in her voice. Then the excitement fell. "Except… there aren't vampires, anymore, are there?"

Giles shook his head. Still a little too incredulous to speak.

Seo shrugged. "Oh, well," she said. "I wouldn't have made a very good vampire, anyways. I think drinking blood is disgusting."

Giles still couldn't speak.

"Although — I would have liked to be sparkly," said Seo. "Like in Buffy's book. Sparkly Seo. That would have been brilliant!"

"Why don't you have a reflection?" Giles asked.

Seo looked back at the mirror, frowning. "I thought you said I did, now," she replied. "You're the one who can see it. You tell me."

And before Giles had the chance to ask anything else, Seo had slipped out the door.

* * *

"Okay, I've got it," said Xander, as he strolled down the street with Willow.

"She's a vampire Time Lord?" Willow guessed.

Xander shook his head. "She's blind."

Willow sighed.

"Think about it!" said Xander. "She walked into walls, the first day she got here. She ran out in front of traffic. And when she was cooking, she reached for stuff that wasn't even edible. Oh, and she's super-obsessed with the fact I lost my eye." He nodded with certainty. "I'm positive. Seo is blind. And she doesn't want us to know."

"She doesn't act blind," said Willow. "She's been able to see stuff completely fine around me."

"Well, yeah," said Xander, "because she's super duper smart. And, if she's actually Buffy and the Doctor's kid, she's probably got all kinds of other senses we don't know about. But she can't see anything."

Willow shook her head. "Xander, she's not blind," she said. "She can read text. On street signs and in books. She read Buffy's copy of _Twilight_ , remember? And that wasn't written in Brail."

Xander paused. "Oh, yeah."

"And then there was that book of Giles'," said Willow, "with the section about the Seed of Wonder, and Seo had…"

"Okay, okay, I get it!" said Xander. "So she's not blind. Fine! So what's your explanation?"

"Vampire Time Lord," said Willow.

Xander scoffed. "She doesn't drink blood."

"Well maybe that's normal," said Willow. "I don't know what vampire Time Lords drink. Maybe they drink time or something."

Xander still seemed skeptical.

"Face it, Xander," said Willow. "Whatever she is, it's something vampirey. She doesn't show up in the mirror…"

"She does!" Xander insisted. "I've seen her in mirrors. A lot. So have you."

"…she'd never eaten chocolate, before," Willow continued. "She's a horrible cook. She's a serious threat to the world, with hearts of pure evil…"

"For the last time, Seo is not…" Xander started, but was cut off by a group of short, stumpy looking aliens in full battle armor, surrounding them.

Xander and Willow looked at one another, then back at the short battle-armored aliens. Who were pointing very sophisticated-looking guns at them. Both Xander and Willow, in unison, put up their hands.

"Surrender your weapons, humans," snapped one of the aliens.

Or Xander was guessing they were aliens. Despite the fact that he couldn't see under their body-armor. He guessed this based on the fact that usually, when people were threatening him, they wound up either being aliens or demons. And demons didn't tend to carry around guns.

Willow and Xander looked at one another, then grudgingly gave up their weapons.

And… yep. They were definitely aliens. Because they immediately started going through the weapons, seeming a little confused.

"What is the function of this device?" asked one of the aliens, raising up a twisted dagger that Xander had been carrying.

"Well, usually, it stabs demons," said Xander. "Although, occasionally, it can be used to spear olives."

"A primitive device," the alien dismissed, dropping the dagger onto the ground. "Of no strategic importance."

"You tell that to a Hoglindor Demon," Willow muttered.

The alien ignored them. Instead, picking up a bottle of Holy Water from their stack of weapons. "And this?"

"That… melts… vampires," Willow admitted.

Xander gave Willow a pointed glare.

"What?" asked Willow. "Now that I know what Seo really is, I wanted to be safe."

Another stumpy alien marched over to them. "Report."

"One human male," said the first stumpy alien, "and one human female."

"Excellent!" said the first stumpy alien. "Bring them to the General."

They were led off, and… coming from the distance, growing clearer and clearer, Xander could hear a voice. A familiar voice.

Seo's voice.

"Of course I'm human," said Seo. "I was born on Earth. I'm the humanest human in humansylvania. Now… can you get on with destroying the world, please? I've got other things to do, besides worrying about the fate of some tiny little insignificant planet."

Except… it wasn't Seo's voice the way Xander had heard it before. This time, her voice seemed detached, uninterested — as if she really was just some bored spoiled brat, who didn't care about anyone or anything.

There was silence.

"Oh," said Seo, with a little bit of a smirk in her voice, "so you _aren't_ destroying the world."

"Silence, human!" commanded an alien.

"Because… not like I care," Seo continued, "but you did say you were going to."

"Silence!"

"And then you found out I was human, and suddenly, you don't actually—"

"Silence!"

Willow and Xander turned a corner, to discover Seo surrounded by the squatty aliens in full body armor. She looked disheveled, her hair a mess, her eyes a little sunken, and there were burns along her skin and across her clothing. It looked… kind of like… she'd been electrocuted.

The aliens nearest her had taken off their helmets, and were pointing guns at her. Xander thought they looked a lot like potato men.

The potato man nearest Seo had a long crack across the front of his body armor. Every so often, it sparked with electricity.

Which, Xander was guessing, had something to do with Seo's new electrified look.

"You are stronger than our data on the females of this planet," the potato man nearest Seo said. "Explain this anomaly."

"Oh, big guys, thinking you know all about humans, huh?" said Seo. She sounded mildly disgusted by the pettiness of the whole thing. Her face looking proud, as if she were above all of this. Superior. "Maybe your data is wrong. You thought of that?"

"You are saying that every human is exactly like—?" the potato man started.

"I'll tell you what I'm saying," Seo cut in, sharply, "if you'll let me get a word in! Mr. Self-Obsessed!"

Silence.

"What I'm saying," Seo explained, a little quieter, "is that there's no point in destroying the world. You're fighting this war against the… rugrats..."

"Rutans."

"Right, those guys," Seo agreed. "And Earth's got six billion super-strong, electricity resistant people, just waiting to be your secret weapon. So, instead of destroying the world, why don't you just enslave everyone else on this planet, and use them?"

The potato man seemed to be thinking this over.

"General!" shouted the potato-guy guarding Willow and Xander. He saluted. "As commanded. One human female. And one human male."

Seo's eyes fell on Willow and Xander. Xander expected to see some reaction from her, but… there was nothing. Nothing at all. As if she were so far above them, it didn't matter.

"Excellent!" said the General, turning to Willow and Xander. "Then we shall test their resistance to electrical current, and see if their readings are comparable to the other human female's."

The potato men marched towards Willow and Xander, with advanced looking somethings in hand. Xander looked over at Willow, elbowing her.

"Magic-time, Will," he muttered. "Come on."

"Magic isn't working!" Willow hissed back. "We must be near a ghost-shift."

Damn. Well, on the bright side, the ghost shifts were about to be the least of their problems. On the not-so-bright side, they were about to become burnt cinders.

"No, wait!" Seo shouted. "I… lied. I'm not…" She paused, looking at Willow and Xander, a hint of fear in her eyes. "I'm not human," she confessed.

The potato men suddenly lost interest in Willow and Xander, focusing their attention back on Seo.

"Identify your species," the General commanded.

Seo rolled her eyes. "Like you care!" she said. "Look, shorty, all you need to know is I'm way above these stupid little human creatures. I shouldn't even be here, at all. But I'm looking for something. And I wound up at the wrong place and time, so I can't find what I need."

"What you need is of no importance to—" the General began.

"Oh, shut up," said Seo, rolling her eyes. "We're talking about _my_ problems, here! Trust the midget to have the world's biggest ego."

"You think your problems are—"

"Obviously, yes," Seo cut in. She gave a sly smile, then added, in a whisper, "And… anyways. Think about it this way. What if my objective could help you, too? What if what I'm looking for could wipe out your… Roman enemies—"

"Rutan enemies," the General corrected.

"—and give you the advantage?" said Seo. "We could work together, you and me. Easy. All you have to do is get me to America. I find what I'm looking for, use your military force to capture it, then share the benefits with you. I get what I want, you get what you want. Everyone's happy."

The General considered. "You have come here to locate… _the_ objective, then?"

Seo winked. "Couldn't resist. And, before you ask — yes. I do know where it is. Only one you'll find who does."

"If you know of the objective's location," said the General, "you will be able to tell us of its function."

Seo looked mildly amused. "Oh, you don't know?"

The General hesitated. "I wish to know… if you know."

"Well, let's just say," said Seo, a little quieter, "that, using my objective in the right way, you could open up a portal to anywhere, anywhen. Any dimension. Any time period. Any universe." She raised an eyebrow. "Interested?"

Willow surged forwards, to strike out at Seo, but one of the potato men yanked her back. Willow struggled, her eyes dark and biting, fixed on Seo. "You lying, murdering…"

"The humans are of no further importance," the General dismissed. "Kill them."

The potato men all pulled out weapons, aiming them at Willow and Xander. Xander flinched, reaching into his pocket and fumbling with his phone, frantically texting Buffy for help. And hoping she'd get the text in time. But kind… of… doubting it.

Seo cleared her throat. "Hurt them in any way, and the deal's off."

"Hold your fire," the General commanded. He turned back to Seo. "What is special about these humans?"

"Those two?" asked Seo. "Nothing. Tiny, insignificant little creatures. Dumb as a rock. But I like them. And their friend, Buffy, too. I don't want them harmed. I thought, after my mission was complete, I'd take them home and keep them as pets."

Willow looked like she was ready to punch Seo in the nose. "I'm so going to kill her," she growled.

Astoundingly enough, Seo didn't seem to mind Willow's murderous rage. In fact, Seo began to walk, slowly, her hands still in the air, towards Willow and Xander.

"I'll collaborate with you," said Seo, "but I'm not going anywhere without my pets."

The General grumbled, but then turned to his men.

"Teleport the female and her pets to the ship," the General instructed the others. "I wish to hear more about this… portal."

The potato men surrounding them saluted, then broke out into a chant that sounded a little like, "Sontar-Ha!" Whatever that meant.

There was a wobbly motion in the air around them, and then…

A weight crashed into Xander's stomach, doubling him up and throwing him onto the ground. He lay there, on the sidewalk, staring at the blue sky, trying to catch his breath.

Hang on. Blue sky? Not space-ship ceiling?

Xander sat up, a little confused, to find, there, just in front of him, was… no potato men. No guns and alien things. Just… Seo. Standing, a short ways away from them, a look of relief on her face.

"Sorry," said Seo, with a cringe. "I needed to shove you and Willow out of the way of the teleport beam."

Willow, beside Xander, got up. Walked over. And smacked Seo across the face.

"Ow!" said Seo, flinching backwards, hand holding her face. "What was that for?"

"You already know," Willow snapped. "And if my magic was working, you'd get a lot worse."

"They were going to destroy the world," Seo retorted. "I was trying to give them a reason not to."

"And your 'mission'?" Willow said. "Your 'objective'? Your great big universe destroying portal that you were going to create? That whole humans are inferior thing you kept saying? You've been playing us all as chumps this whole time, and I..."

The sound of a highly sophisticated gun barrel charging cut them off in their tracks. Xander looked up, to find that the potato man with the cracked armor — the General — was still there. And still pointing a gun at them.

Seo's eyes went wide. They flicked over to the crack in the armor, and her mouth made an "O".

"Your teleport was hooked into your armor," she realized. "And I… punched it out."

"How did you evade our teleportation technology?" the General demanded. "The humans were out of range — you were not. How did you manage to stay behind, when the beam should have transported you?"

Seo winced. Glancing around her. Looking for someone. Expecting someone. But finding no one.

(Looking for Buffy, Xander guessed.)

"Explain!" the General demanded.

"Maybe your teleport was at fault!" Seo snapped. "I was _trying_ to get to America. Do you really think I'd have purposely stopped your teleport from getting me to a space ship that could fly me there?"

"Your human pets have betrayed your real intentions," said the General. "You do not wish to help us in our war against the Rutans. Your actual mission is to seize the objective for yourself and destroy the universe."

"No!" said Seo. "I—"

"Look, just shoot her, already," Willow interrupted. "Do us all a favor."

"Will!" Xander protested.

But Willow's mind had clearly been made up. Seo had confessed, herself, that she wasn't human — which meant they had enough jurisdiction to kill her. Seo had said that the only reason she was here was for Dawn. She had said enough to show them that she knew what Dawn could do. And that was enough for Willow to condemn her.

Seo shoved Willow and Xander out of the way, rolling across the ground and then running for her life. The potato man caught up with her, quickly, cornering her against a brick wall.

He raised up his gun, aiming at Seo. She turned her head to the side, and squeezed her eyes shut. Holding her breath.

He fired.

The gun gave an empty click in his hands. And then went dead.

The General frowned. He tried again — with no success. Then lowered the gun, his brow furrowed, as he examined it.

"Auto-targeting mechanism," Seo breathed, opening her eyes. She sounded relieved.

The General snapped his head up to her. "You have sabotaged the auto-targeting mechanism in my weapon!" he accused. "You are an enemy of the Great Sontaran—"

"I'm all the way over here," said Seo. "I never even got close to your… gun… thing. How could I have sabotaged it?"

The General processed this, but seemed to be having a very hard time figuring out how this could all make sense. "Then… then you have…"

"Or maybe," Seo said, her voice dropping down to be very low, very threatening, "there's a reason I know where the objective is located."

The General seemed confused. For a second. Then backed away, a few steps, instinctively.

"Yeah," said Seo. "Now you're starting to understand. Now you're starting to work out who and what I really am. What I could do to you. With just the flick of my wrist." She walked towards him, her brown eyes blazing. Her voice lowering a hair, growing menacing. Threatening. "Do you know how easily I could kill you? Do you know how many ways I've thought up to destroy you and every other shrimpy, self-centered little potato man you've taken along?" In a whisper. "I could snuff you out. Like that. And you'd never even know what hit you."

The General pointed his gun right in Seo's face. "You are now a prisoner of the Great Sontaran—"

Seo twisted the gun out of his hand, and snapped it in half across her knee. Then tossed the pieces over her shoulder. "Yes, I _do_ know where the objective is," Seo told him, in a very soft voice. "And you're not laying a single grubby little finger on her. You know why? Because the objective's _mine_. Her fate in _my_ hands. And, in the end, it's up to _me_ what happens to—"

The potato man groaned. Then fell forward, flat on his face. Revealing… Buffy, standing behind him. A mallet in her hand.

"I got Xander's text," Buffy informed them.

Seo stared at the potato man. Then at Buffy. Then at the potato man.

"How did you do that?!" Seo cried. "I cracked his armor, and he still didn't go down!"

"He's a Sontaran," Buffy replied, lowering the mallet. "Hit a Sontaran in the back of the neck, and they pass out. That's UNIT Invasions 101 for you." She glanced over at Xander and Willow. "You guys okay?"

Xander was just gaping at Seo. A little breathless. Realizing… Seo didn't have the first idea how to kill that thing. Her whole speech had been a bluff.

A pretty scary bluff.

Willow advanced on Seo, again, anger in her eyes. "She was trying to trade Dawn's life for the world!" Willow shouted. "She's here on a mission to create another great big universe destroying portal, and—"

Buffy sighed. "Will," she said, wearily. "Drop it. Seriously."

"But that whole speech about how she could snuff that Sontaran out like a candle, like she was some great big, terrible—"

"Willow," said Buffy. "Seo gave that speech because she noticed me coming up from behind. If she was attacking it from the front, she's obviously got no idea how to take down a Sontaran. Let her go."

Seo looked almost offended. "I thought up several different ways to destroy—"

"She isn't just some innocent kid!" Willow cut in. "She's evil, Buffy! Just look at her! She's evil, and she wants to kill your sister!"

"Seo isn't doing anything to Dawn while I'm around," Buffy countered. "And, besides. If she was only here for Dawn, she'd be on that Sontaran space ship, right now, heading for Cleveland."

"She tried!" said Willow. "The teleporter didn't work on her." She glanced down, then pointed at Seo — who was crouched beside the Sontaran General, fiddling with some wires in his cracked armor. "See?! She's trying to get the teleporter to work! Take her onto the ship!"

The Sontaran General faded in a shimmer of blue light, then vanished.

Seo stood up. "I just used the faulty teleporter to send him and his ship somewhere really far away," Seo replied. She shrugged. "They won't be back on Earth for a long time." She tilted her head. "Well, I say long. More like… five years. Well, I say five years. More like… two. At most, two years. Okay, one year and…"

"Seo," Buffy warned. "Stop. Now."

Willow glared at Seo, her entire body shaking with rage. She stalked up to the girl, her eyes boring into her. "Who are you?" she demanded. "What are you? What are you up to?"

Seo gave Willow a very serious stare. "Okay, you got me," she said. She pointed to her own face. "This is a mask. I'm actually a blue-skinned alien named Gorgax the Destroyer, and I want to conquer the Earth so I can get every single person on this planet to do the Macarena at exactly the same time, and get into the Guinness Book of Intergalactic Records."

"No, you're not!" Willow shouted.

"Willow," Buffy warned. "Seo. Stop."

"Or maybe," Seo continued, "I'm an evil criminal mastermind who wants to perform mass hypnosis so Americans will finally adopt the metric system. Or maybe I'm the brains behind Windows Vista! That's pretty evil. Or maybe..."

Willow looked like she was three words away from strangling Seo with her bare hands.

Buffy stepped in between them. She turned to Willow. "It's just Seo-speak," she said. "She's trying to get a rise out of you."

"It's working," Willow gritted.

Seo poked her head around Buffy. "You're the one who thinks I'm an evil alien trying to destroy the world!" she told Willow. "I'm just telling you what you want to hear."

"Seo, are you planning anything having to do with the destruction of the world?" Xander asked, before Willow had a chance to do anything.

Seo reflected. "I don't think so," she admitted. "Why? Do you think I should?"

"No," Xander said.

Seo grinned. "Oh, good! Because it'd be really annoying to have to teach another planet how to do the Macarena."

Willow glared at Seo, rage still building.

"You can't go all executey on me," Seo insisted. She pointed at Buffy. "I'm _her_ prisoner. Remember? That means _she's_ the only one who gets to kill me!"

Buffy grabbed Seo by the arm, looking thoroughly frustrated. "Seo," she said. "Shut up. And… Willow." Turning to Willow. "Cool it. Seriously."

"But she's some powerful alien Big Bad!" said Willow. "She said so! A wanted criminal. And she knows that…"

"I know," Buffy cut in. "Just… she's not going to do anything bad while I'm around. Okay? Obviously, there's something else going on that she's not telling us about. So let me figure that out, first, and then we can deal with this Dawn thing." And dragged Seo off.

Xander came up to Willow, hands in pockets. "Yep," he said, watching as Buffy lectured Seo in a stern voice, dragging her down the street and out of sight. "Buffy's definitely not Seo's mom. No doubt about it. There's no kind of mother-daughter bond going on over there."

Willow spun around to face Xander. "What?"

"Will, look at them," Xander said, pointing into the distance. "It's obvious what's going on. Seo's Buffy's kid. Despite what Buffy says, they've got a bond between them. They can both feel it."

"But Dawn—"

"Seo's jealous," Xander said. "She's come back in time, hoping to be mommy's favorite. And now she's got to compete with Dawn." He shrugged. "She isn't here to kill Dawn. She's just trying to get Buffy's attention."

"She's a monster," Willow insisted. "A brainwashing, human-murdering, world-selling-out…"

Xander shook his head. "Jealous," he insisted, following Buffy.

* * *

Buffy was walking with Seo, a few days later. Keeping an eye on her.

Buffy knew that whatever Seo wanted, whatever Seo really was, it had something to do with Dawn. Or at least, Buffy thought that was pretty likely. But she also remembered — what Seo had said, when Buffy confronted her about deleting Dawn from everything.

_Do you think I_ want _to do this?_

Whatever was going on, whatever Seo was up to, whatever she was planning — it wasn't by choice. She felt she had to. Something else was going on, here. Something more complicated. And Buffy needed to figure out what that was.

And what it had to do with the ghosts.

Seo, as usual, was chattering away about something-or-other, without caring if Buffy was listening to her. Which was good, because Buffy wasn't.

Buffy had another reason she'd brought Seo out at this time.

In an instant, the air around them shimmered, and the ghosts faded into view. The ghosts that were appearing, more and more frequently, as the days went by. Ghost shift.

Seo stopped in her tracks. Her entire body tense, as she looked at the ghosts.

"Okay, Seo," said Buffy, crossing her arms. "Game's up. What do you know?"

Seo spun around to face Buffy. "What?"

"The ghosts," Buffy explained. "Every time you see them, you react. Just like now. And I want to know why."

"I don't know!" said Seo. "Why do you do that automatic shuddery thing, every time anyone brings up political stuff?"

Buffy wanted to hit her head on something. "This isn't about _me_ , Seo!" she said. "You know something about the Ghost Shifts. That's obvious. They started when you showed up."

Seo didn't answer. Her eyes fixed on the ghost nearest Buffy.

The ghost paused, as if eyeing the two of them with interest. Then it advanced towards Buffy, slowly. Curiously.

Seo grabbed Buffy by the arm and yanked her away. "Don't touch it."

"Why?" asked Buffy. "What would happen if I did?"

Seo said nothing.

"I don't think you want me dead," Buffy said. "So… here's your chance. Keep me alive. Tell me what you know, or I'll go right up to that ghost, and stick my hand through it."

Seo's grip tightened on Buffy's arm. But she said nothing.

"Seo…" Buffy warned.

"That's… not a ghost," Seo confessed. "I don't know what it is, but… it's not a ghost."

Buffy sighed. Rolled her eyes, and jerked her hand out of Seo's grip. The ghosts weren't ghosts. Thank you, Seo, for stating the obvious.

"It isn't!" Seo insisted. "Really! I'm telling the truth!"

"Yeah," said Buffy, with a sigh, leading Seo back to Giles'. "Way ahead of you, Seo."


	16. Chapter 16

Buffy had been expecting Dawn to call. So discovering Ria on the other end was… a little surprising.

And kind of awkward and weird. Particularly because, right now, Ria was turning Buffy into the superhero inspirational icon that she'd be by the 39th century.

"My source asked for Willow," Ria confessed. "Specifically Willow. And if you don't want to have anything to do with this, that's fine. You're not part of the Slayer Institution, anymore, and I'll respect that. But… I thought… _you_ might like to take this one, instead. Without getting Willow involved."

"What one?" asked Buffy.

"I've gotten a tipoff," said Ria. "About the ghosts."

"Tipoff?" asked Buffy. "From whom?"

"Someone wishing to remain anonymous," Ria replied. "But a reliable source. The most reliable source."

Okay… so… the Doctor, then? That was the most reliable source Buffy could think of.

(Even though she didn't think the Doctor had been in contact with Ria, recently.)

"Apparently," said Ria, "these ghosts are being caused by a group of aliens with vast psychic powers, hiding out somewhere in London."

"So… the ghosts are some psychic thing?" Buffy asked.

"It was always a possibility," Ria replied. "The world's begun to accept them. People want the ghosts to come. It could be that… by wishing and hoping and praying that our loved ones are returning… we're actually making them stronger."

Oh. Right. Yeah. Buffy had seen that kind of thing before.

"So why not Willow?" asked Buffy. "Psychic stuff. Alien monsters. This seems right up her alley."

Ria hesitated.

"I… thought so, too," she confessed. "But… your sister wanted me to call you. She's worried…" Ria hesitated. "Well, actually, I don't really get why she's worried. But she's worried. She thinks Willow should stay out of this."

Buffy thought this through. "Don't tell me she thinks these psychic aliens are going to trigger something in Willow's head, and make her go all evil-magic destroy-the-world again?"

"I don't know," said Ria. "Possibly."

Buffy swore.

"If you want to take care of this by yourself," said Ria, "I'll let you. Otherwise, I'll tell Xander and Willow to get onto it."

"I'll do it," said Buffy. "Promise. No word to Willow."

* * *

The major problem was figuring out how to track these psychic aliens. Willow was the tech person — which was probably why whoever-it-was had wanted her, specifically, to investigate. Because _she'd_ be the one who could create some psychic energy detecting device.

(Or… use her own magic powers. Which… was probably why Dawn had thought it was a bad idea.)

Buffy didn't know why she'd thought of the solution she had. Or why she'd thought it was a good idea. At the moment, she was putting it down to complete insanity. But…

There was one other person, nearby, who was very good with technology. Particularly… future-ish technology.

And who lied enough, anyways, that Buffy was pretty sure she'd be able to keep a secret.

Seo was, at the moment, rushing forwards, with a clicking, whirring, spinning device in her hands, looking thrilled and intrigued and absorbed in her work. She had been completely shocked when Buffy had approached her. She'd kept asking Buffy — "You trust me to do this? You actually trust me?"

No. Buffy didn't trust Seo one inch.

"But I'm pretty sure you don't want me dead," Buffy had explained to her. "And _I'm_ the one keeping an eye on you."

Buffy, heavily armed, followed close behind Seo. Trying not to think, for the billionth time, about just how stupid she'd been to ask Seo to help her. Trying not to think too hard about… _why_ … she'd asked Seo to help her.

( _You actually trust me?)_

They had been rushing down the streets of London for about an hour, before Buffy began to notice… that they'd passed this building before.

And that one.

And that one.

"We're close!" Seo said. "I'm sure!"

Buffy narrowed her eyes. Then, in a burst of speed, she overtook Seo, snatching up Seo's little device, and examining it for herself.

A box with blinking lights, and a little chime sound, as if to indicate that you were getting close. Except...

Buffy waved the box around. Pointed it to the side. Then the other side. Then behind her.

The blinking lights and the chime sound never changed.

Buffy glared at Seo. "A tracking device," she said, waving it in front of the girl's face, "that doesn't track anything."

Seo fidgeted in place. "Oops?" she tried.

Buffy shook it, and waited for Seo to go on.

"I... can look at the wiring," said Seo. "Fix whatever mistake I made. See if I can make the tracker work."

Buffy shook it, again. "This wasn't _designed_ to work," she pointed out. "It was designed to _look_ like it was working, so you could lead me around in circles."

Seo glanced down at the ground, biting her lower lip. "Oops," she said, to herself.

"Look, Seo," Buffy said. "I get that you want to spend time with me. I get that you think that my walking around in circles with you is way more important than my actually saving the world. But I've got a duty to more than just you. While we're out here, wasting time, those aliens are…"

"One sword," Seo whispered, "three daggers, an axe, a crossbow, a magical war-amulet, and an ice pick."

Buffy paused. Looking down at her weapons bag. "Yeah," she said. "You saw me pack those things an hour ago."

"But they're not…" Seo started. Then hesitated. A little quieter. "Why do you want to hurt them?"

Buffy blinked. Then blinked again.

"Seo," she said, the truth dawning on her. "You've actually _met_ these aliens?"

"I... not met," Seo confessed. "I sort of... got... chased... by them. When you were gone. They were attacking a group of people, and I... kind of... accidentally blundered into the middle of it all."

Uh-huh. Right.

"But they're not bad," said Seo. "I know they're not. That's why they didn't kill me, even when they could have. They're just… afraid. They're lost. And alone. And confused. And… they think that if they can get…" She stopped. Then looked back at Buffy. "I just didn't want you to find them."

"So… they're not bad," Buffy clarified. "They just… try to hunt down and kill innocent people."

"Exactly!" said Seo, relieved to see that, finally, Buffy seemed to be getting the point.

Buffy was getting no such point. But she was very happy that she'd brought so many weapons. She was positive that she was going to need them, by the time that this was all over.

"Tell you what," said Buffy. "You can talk to them, right?"

Seo nodded.

"So you show me where they are," said Buffy. "I let you talk to them. And we take things from there. Agreed?"

Seo gave Buffy a shy smile. No, scratch that. Seo gave Buffy _Buffy's_ shy smile. The kind _she_ always gave, when she was actually really happy about something, but didn't want to be too manic-excited about it.

"Agreed."

* * *

Buffy hadn't been sure exactly what the aliens would look like. She'd been visualizing vaguely demonic humanoid — but that wasn't always the case.

And definitely not now.

Buffy stopped, the moment she saw them. In the basement of the abandoned office building that she and Seo had just broken into. Okay, not saw them, exactly, but saw… the flock of them, fluttering away the moment they caught sight of the intruders.

Fluttering. And hissing.

"They're… snakes," Buffy said, jumping down from the window and landing inside the basement. Her eyes drifting across the ceiling, and down to the far end of the basement, where they were huddling together. "Flying snakes."

"They're aliens," Seo said. She glanced over her shoulder at Buffy. "You said you'd let me speak to them."

Yes. Buffy had. But that was before Buffy had known that these were flying psychic snakes. Flying psychic snakes that Buffy probably wouldn't be able to understand.

"You can speak Snake, then, huh?" Buffy asked. She crossed her arms. "Do a lot of Disney Princess Wannabes speak Snake, or just you?"

Seo grinned. "JK Rowling's _Complete Guide to Parceltongue_ ," she explained. She pointed her thumb at herself. "I've got this one covered."

Buffy shook her head. "No, no, wait," she said. "First of all, JK Rowling never wrote a _Complete Guide to_ —"

"She will!"

"And second of all," Buffy continued, "Parceltongue is _real_?!"

Seo gave Buffy a look that said, 'of course not, what kind of an idiot are you?' Then turned around, to face the winged snakes. She held out her hands, to show she was unarmed, and walked towards them. Slowly. Quietly.

Soft footsteps pattering through the air.

The snakes hissed at one another, their eyes remaining fixed on Seo. Their yellow, glinting eyes.

Seo paused, half-way across the basement. And said something to them, in a soft, gentle, coaxing voice. Then… hesitating, slightly… took another step.

The hissing grew louder, as the snakes seemed to jump away from her, their wings beating against the air, agitated and nervous.

Seo stopped.

"What are they saying?" Buffy asked.

Seo glanced over her shoulder. "They said I…" She stopped, thought a moment, then reconsidered. "You're carrying weapons," she amended. "They're afraid."

Then she turned back to the snakes, and began to speak again. This time, in a smooth, rhythmic tone, as if she were trying to persuade them, cajole them. Make them believe her.

Buffy hesitated. She had taken the precaution, beforehand, to hide a few weapons on her person — just in case she got separated from her weapons bag. So ditching it would be fine. But… she liked her weapons bag. Especially since she knew she was going to use every weapon she had to take down these snake things. Nothing Seo could say or do could talk her out of that.

(Not when Dawn's life was at risk.)

A little reluctantly, Buffy dropped the weapons bag on the ground. Then walked up to Seo. The snakes still seemed agitated and a little frightened. But not of Buffy. No. It was almost like… they were frightened… of Seo.

Seo continued speaking to them, using that same rhythmic, quiet, calming voice. As if soothing them, cajoling them. Maybe even… hypnotizing them? Seo paused, listening to the hissing response to whatever she'd just said.

"What are they saying, now?" asked Buffy.

"They want to know why we're here," said Seo.

Another burst of speech from Seo, and another response from the snakes. Seo started in, again, without even waiting to translate for Buffy.

"Seo," Buffy cut in. "What—?"

Seo spun around, a little startled. "Oh," she said. She blinked. "Sorry. They… want directions. To the nearest space port."

Uh-huh.

Sure they did.

Buffy crossed her arms.

Seo continued to speak, and Buffy waited. Trying to understand their words using the lilt of their voices. And she could tell a lot, considering they were snakes — could tell that Seo was trying to convince them to do something, and that the snakes were… less hostile than they had been, when Seo first started. As if they were warming to the idea.

Buffy cleared her throat.

"Their… ship…" Seo said, a little distractedly, as she rushed the translation to hurry on with her conversation, "made the Kessel run… in less than 12… parsecs."

"No, it didn't," said Buffy.

Seo blinked. Then seemed to notice what she'd just said. Her eyes went wide. "Oh. I…. Parsecs aren't a measurement of time, are they?"

"No," said Buffy. "That was from _Star Wars_."

"Oh," said Seo. She grimaced. "Right. I… probably should have quoted from a movie you hadn't seen, yet."

Buffy advanced towards Seo, and now it was Seo's turn to back away. Her eyes fixed on the angry Buffy Summers, stalking towards her.

"I don't know what you're saying to those aliens," said Buffy. "But I do know that you're trying to make them do something. Something for you. And I'm guessing the main topic of your conversation was one person. Dawn Summers."

Seo stumbled back, and Buffy could see, in an instant, that she'd been right. Really, really right.

"You came here, now, but that was a mistake," said Buffy. "You were aiming for Sunnydale, in 2001. May, 2001. That's obvious. And when you got here, instead — you sought me out. Me, specifically. You 'just happened' to know how to speak to snakes. And birds. So you found these guys, thought they'd be advantageous, and then called up Ria. Used her to lure me here. So that I'd be around when you arranged to murder my sister. The perfect alibi for the perfect crime."

"I… I didn't…"

"You and your 'I don't know where she lives', your 'I'd never be able to get there'," Buffy snapped. "I knew you'd find a way. People like you don't give up that easily. I should have just killed all your little snake minion things the moment I stepped into the room."

Seo's eyes widened. She glanced over at the snakes, then feinted right but darted to the left, towards them. But Buffy knew that tactic way too well.

In an instant, Buffy had grabbed Seo up by her shirt and slammed her against the wall, Buffy's concealed knife at her throat. She could feel the girl breathing hard, feel her trembling beneath Buffy's fists. She could see the fear in those deep brown eyes.

The eyes she'd stolen from someone else.

"What are you planning to do to my sister?!" Buffy shouted.

Seo stared down at the knife blade in Buffy's hand. Her breath coming rapidly.

Then, in a low, cold, remorseless voice, "That depends on what you're planning to do to those aliens."

"What?" Buffy said.

Seo looked up and met Buffy's eyes with her own. She raised up her hand to reveal a small, spherical silver device she'd just taken out of her pocket.

"This," she said, her voice icy calm, "is the remote activator for a bomb. In the Slayer Institute. If I press one button on this thing — or if you try to destroy it — the bomb will detonate. And the whole building will go up. Five hour time difference. It's still working hours, there."

Buffy stared at the bomb activator. Then back at Seo. Feeling every single ounce of rage focusing inside of her. Narrowing in on this person… no, this _thing_ that dared to pretend to be her daughter! Dared to give her hope for her own future, dared to give her the idea that maybe…

Damn her. Damn Seo. Damn this shape-shifting, mask-wearing monster that dared to threaten to…!

"I'm going to kill you," Buffy said.

Seo leaned in closer. "Then do it."

Buffy brought the knife in closer, drawing blood. The wrong color blood. The wrong color… just like…

No. No! It wasn't. Couldn't be the same. Wasn't…

"Do it!" Seo shouted. "You're the only reason I'm alive! So if anyone should kill me, it should be _you_. That's your right — to be my murderer. So take it! I'm not stopping you!"

Buffy hesitated.

"You know it's the only way," said Seo. "The only way to undo… whatever you think I did to them." Glancing over at the snakes. "Get rid of me, and you only hurt one person. One murder to save the lives of all the rest of them. One…" Her eyes suddenly grew sad. Very, very sad. "Two souls lost forever."

Buffy's grip loosened, just a hair.

Seo took a shaky breath. Squeezed her eyes shut as tight as she could. "Just… get it over with."

The knife fell out of Buffy's hand, and clattered to the floor.

As she set Seo down on the ground.

Seo opened her eyes, one at a time. The hint of tears, inside of them. She stared at Buffy, her breath coming too fast, her legs unsteady, her hand reaching out to catch the wall and stop herself from falling. Her mouth tried to form words, but none came out.

"You," Buffy told her, "are playing a very — _very_ — dangerous game."

Then, Buffy took one last glance over at the winged snake things. And made her decision.

Reached into her pocket, and brought out her cell phone. To tell Ria — the snakes weren't dangerous. Not at all.

(And to tell Dawn to run for it.)

But… then….

Huh. That… couldn't be right. Her cell phone had no service. Buffy shook it. Still. No service. Weird. Really weird. Because Buffy had thought that Archangel worked everywhere.

(And… the fact that the cell phone wasn't working… well, that had to be down to Seo. Right? The anonymous tipoff, the psychic snake monsters, cell phones malfunctioning — Buffy knew they all had to be connected. This couldn't possibly have all been a coincidence. And… it had to be… Seo. Somehow.)

Buffy grabbed Seo by the arm, and dragged her out of the basement. Whatever. Buffy would call Ria and Dawn later. Right now, it was time to figure out what to do with Seo.


	17. Chapter 17

Buffy was punching the punching bag Giles had set up in his basement. Punching it over and over again. No going back to her own apartment, now. Couldn't leave Seo here, unsupervised, anymore. Not for a single second. Not for a single millionth of a millionth of a…

The creak of a floorboard behind her.

Buffy spun around, her eyes narrowing on the small figure standing just behind. The one who backed up a few steps, the moment Buffy spotted her. The one who huddled down on the floor, eyes unable to meet Buffy's.

"I'm sorry… you don't like me," Seo said, softly. "I like you."

"You threatened to kill my sister!" Buffy shouted.

Seo took out the small metal ball she'd shown Buffy, earlier. Held it in her hand, her eyes lingering on its metallic surface. Then, almost lazily, she pressed the button.

Buffy's eyes widened. She lunged forward, shouting, "Don't—!"

The metallic ball opened, revealing a hopping, skipping little ballerina, jumping around to the beat of Debussy's _Clair de Lune_.

Buffy slowed. Then stopped.

"It's a music box," she breathed.

Seo didn't answer. Her eyes following the little ballerina figurine.

"You said it was…" Buffy started.

Seo glanced up at Buffy, a hint of the earlier pain in her eyes. "I say lots of things," she replied, in a small voice.

Buffy pushed back her hair from her face. "I almost killed you," she said. "Because you said you had—"

"You wouldn't have."

Buffy's eyes narrowed. "How do you know?" she demanded. "Do you have any idea how angry…?"

Seo's eyes dropped down to the little ballerina, again. Her body seeming to sink into the sway of the music. The cadences and swells of the piece.

"I used to dress up as you," Seo said. "When I was little. Save a pretend Sunnydale from pretend vampires. I didn't even know you were my…" She stopped. Then substituted in, "what you were." She swallowed, hard. "Didn't even know what you did for me."

Buffy said nothing.

"Dad told me stories," Seo continued. "About you. But he never told me… the important things. What I was. Who I was. Who you were. I found out, on my own. Later. Found out the truth." She ventured a look up at Buffy. "That's how I knew you wouldn't kill me."

But Buffy had known that Seo was scared. That, in that moment, Seo had been terrified Buffy might actually do it.

And Buffy knew another thing.

What Seo had done was… possibly… the only thing that could have convinced Buffy to keep the aliens alive.

"You threatened my sister," Buffy said. "My friends. Some of the most important people in my life. Just so that you could save…" She shook her head. "I don't know what to do with you, Seo. I really, really don't."

"Dad says I'm a master chess player," Seo offered. "It's his nice way of saying I'm manipulative."

Buffy could still feel the anger coursing through her. The way this kid — who was actually way older than her — could completely twist around Buffy's emotions and motivations. In an instant.

"Which is funny," Seo continued, with a frown, "because I'm not actually very good at playing chess."

"I'm not laughing," Buffy reminded her.

Seo winced. "You hate me," she said. "I… expected that." She wound up the little music box, again, and let the song play. "I'm sorry I made you hate me."

"I don't—" Buffy started, but paused. Shook her head. "I don't hate you. I just… don't trust you. At all."

Seo didn't answer.

"You can't just make death threats and expect a simple apology to wipe them away," Buffy said. "You've given me a lot of reason to think you're after my sister. I can't just ignore that."

Again, no answer.

Buffy sighed. Then took a step closer to Seo. "You don't want to tell me the truth," she said. "About who you are or what you want, here. I have no idea why, but you seem to really want to make me angry at you. But you don't want me to _be_ angry at you."

Silence from Seo.

Buffy sat down beside her, back against the wall. "Just tell me the truth about one thing," she said. "One thing. Only one. Do you want to hurt or kill Dawn Summers?"

Seo burst out laughing.

Buffy snapped her head around to glare at Seo.

"Sorry," Seo said, trying to contain her laughter. "It's just... you really don't know how weird that sounds."

"These are people's _lives_ you're talking about, Seo!" Buffy reprimanded. "People's lives you're threatening! I don't think any of this is a laughing matter."

"Sorry," Seo said, again. Trying a little more successfully to stop herself from laughing. She took a few deep breaths, and calmed herself down.

Buffy crossed her arms. Leveled her best threatening glare at Seo. But said nothing.

Seo glanced over at her. "I could be Glory," she offered. "Come back from the dead. Maybe I'm an insane hell goddess, taking on this shape to infiltrate your group, and I want—"

"Not the Seo-Speak, again," Buffy groaned, hitting the back of her head against the wall. "You do realize that if you say you are something, it immediately becomes 75% less likely to be true?"

Seo gave a small shrug. "I'm just saying what you're thinking."

"Don't flatter yourself," Buffy said. "You're not nearly insane enough to be Glory. And…" She paused. The words, for a moment, not wanting to be uttered. "…if you were Glory, you wouldn't care if I hated you."

Seo said nothing. Just looked down at her knees, once more the frightened little girl who needed a hug.

Buffy got up off the floor with a sigh. "I don't know what to do with you, Seo," she said, again, as she left the room. "I just… really… don't know what to do."

Seo remained silent for a long moment. A very long moment. As moonlight flooded the basement, cascading across her body like a tidal wave, sweeping her out to sea.

"Me neither," Seo whispered.

* * *

"That is so manipulative!" Dawn cried, through the phone.

"I know," said Buffy, as she walked down the street. "I mean, she just threatened your life and the lives of everyone at the Slayer Institution, when she—"

"Not her," said Dawn. " _You_."

Buffy paused a moment. Glancing over at the phone. "Huh?"

"Oh, come on!" said Dawn. "I'm your sister. I know you better than that. You were planning to kill those psychic alien whatevers the moment you heard they were attacking people. You never cared about 'talking' to them."

Buffy didn't say anything.

"You were just telling her you'd give them a chance because you wanted her to show you where they were!" Dawn continued. "I mean, geeze! How manipulative is that?"

"Dawn," said Buffy, very quietly, "they were snakes. Winged snakes."

"Yeah," said Dawn. "So?"

"So winged snakes can find you!" said Buffy. "Fly over the ocean and track you down! Kidnap you!"

Dawn sighed. "Do you know how much I hate it when you do this kind of thing?" she asked. "It's like, one little threat on my life, and you completely flip out. I work at the Slayer Institution, now, Buffy. Do you know how many death threats I get on a daily basis?" Then, grumbling, "And most of those are from aliens who _aren't_ half a world away."

Buffy wasn't sure how to answer this.

"You can't just flip out every time my life is in danger," said Dawn. "You can't just turn all master-manipulator whenever your problem has anything to do with me. It's _my_ life. _My_ choice. Your daughter has nothing to do with that."

"She's not my daughter," said Buffy. "She's a devious, manipulative liar who…"

"Buffy, you and the Doctor are two of the most manipulative people I know," said Dawn. "And you guys lie all the time. Are you seriously surprised that your daughter would wind up the same way?"

"She walked right up to me a week ago and told me that she didn't care if this planet got destroyed!" Buffy insisted.

"Yeah, because you've never walked up to Giles and done anything like that," Dawn answered.

Buffy said nothing. Remembering… that first day, at Sunnydale High, when she'd marched right into the library, confronted Giles, and had… said… basically… that.

Damn.

"You know what I think?" Dawn said. "I think you're using me as an excuse to pretend Seo isn't actually your kid. Because you know what Seo really means. You're going to see the Doctor, again. He's going to find out you're still alive. And there's a part of you that's terrified about that."

"I…" Buffy hesitated. Then shook her head. "No. No! There's too much other weird stuff about Seo for her to be my daughter. Like… she didn't show up in the mirror, that one time. And she speaks with an American accent, but she uses weird British sounding words, sometimes. Like 'lift' and 'lorry'. And other times she doesn't! And… and…"

"Where are you headed, right now?" Dawn demanded.

Buffy glanced down at her weapons bag, tucked under her arm. "Nowhere."

"You're going off to check on those aliens, huh?" asked Dawn. She sighed. "Buffy, don't you get it? That's why I told Ria to send you on this mission, and not anyone else! There's something really evil out there, threatening us. And I don't think it's these aliens."

Buffy frowned. "You don't…?"

"The ghosts aren't psychic," said Dawn. "One of them walked through me, and had a serious spasm attack. And then kind of… disappeared. _Me_! Not anyone else. Just me. You know what that means."

Buffy did. She knew all too well.

"These ghosts aren't psychic," said Dawn. "They're some… inter-dimensional, or inter-universal, or trans-temporal… whatever. And with Willow acting super weird and kind of crazy, recently, I thought… you were more likely to keep a level head. Figure out if these aliens were actually bad or not." She sighed. "I didn't know they'd be something that would make you go all manipulative Dawn-saving superhero again."

Buffy wasn't sure what to say. "Ria said… the information about those aliens being evil came from a reliable source."

"You're a reliable source, too," said Dawn. "That doesn't mean you're always right."

Touché.

"I still think I should check on them," said Buffy, rounding the final corner and proceeding towards the basement where the snake aliens were hiding. "Just to make sure they aren't… you know…"

"Flying across the Atlantic Ocean to kidnap me?" asked Dawn.

Yes. Basically. What Dawn said.

"No," Buffy lied.

"Liar."

Buffy pushed at the loose window she'd used to break in, the previous day. "I've got a right to be worried about you," she retorted, climbing inside, and dropping down to the floor. "I mean, you say people keep ignoring you, so if you ever did… get… kidnapped…"

Buffy stopped. As her eyes took in the scene before her. As her brain tried to register what it meant.

"Buffy?" asked Dawn, on the other end. She knocked on the speaker, a few times. "Hello! Earth to Buffy! What's wrong? Did the phone cut out, again?"

"The aliens," Buffy said, her eyes fixed on the corpses. "They're all dead. Every single one of them."

* * *

Willow hadn't known about the aliens until after they were dead. She hadn't known that Buffy had come that close to killing Seo outright. And she really didn't know why Buffy had stopped.

But ever since she'd discovered that Seo had hacked into the Archangel Network, Willow just… _felt it_. It ran through her body, through her mind, like a certainty. A certainty which got stronger and stronger, every time she called upon her magic, filtering the psychic power of the Earth through her mind.

Seo was a threat.

She had to be destroyed.

Why couldn't Buffy see that? Willow could understand Xander — taken in by the pretty flirting evil-girl, as always — but Buffy was usually good about this stuff! Why didn't Buffy see that the best thing for everyone was to report Seo to Harold Saxon, and let him deal with her?

That just made sense.

But Buffy hadn't. Hadn't even trusted Willow. And, now, here Buffy was, bent over the dining room table, head in her hands.

"Seo did it," Willow said. "She was trying to brainwash those aliens to kill your sister. The brainwashing didn't work. So she killed them."

Buffy didn't answer.

"Uh, Will?" said Xander. "Seo can't even hypnotize a squirrel. I don't really think her plan involved anything hypnosissy at all."

"Dawn thinks it's a warning," Buffy told them, in a low voice. "She said… someone's been contacting the Slayer Institution with threats. There's some Big Bad out there, and it wants the Scythe. If we don't follow its orders, this is what's going to happen to all of us."

"'Some Big Bad'," Willow scoffed. "We all know who it is. Just say it! Seo sent those messages."

Xander shook his head, a little confused. "Wait, I thought… you said… Seo wanted Dawn," he said. "So… does she want Dawn? Or the Scythe?"

"Both," said Willow. "I'm guessing the Scythe would be just as powerful for her as it was for Buffy. And you know what kind of craziness she could pull with power like that."

"She's looking for an energy source," Buffy muttered. "A really powerful energy source. We've all said it."

"Exactly!" said Willow. "So what are you waiting for? She's not human, Buffy. If she's threatening the entire world, you can kill her. You _should_ kill her."

Buffy looked over at Willow. Her expression looked tired, worn out. As if she'd exhausted herself, trying to think through an impossible situation.

"I'm not going to kill her," Buffy confessed. "I don't think I ever could."

Willow's jaw dropped. "But… but you said she wasn't your kid!" she insisted. "Even the Doctor thought she was dangerous enough to keep locked up for years! She's just here looking like that so you'll protect her from him. Isn't that reason enough?"

Buffy sighed. "It's complicated."

"No, it's not!" Willow insisted. "She doesn't care about anyone or anything on this planet. We're all just… animals to her!"

"I don't think…" Xander started, but Willow turned on him, and gave him a warning glare that shut him up.

Buffy turned on her chair. "You're right," she said. "Seo's up to something. It's something big and probably something we're not going to like very much. But…" she looked over at Xander. "He's right, too. She isn't intrinsically evil."

"But she _told_ us! She said—" Willow started.

Buffy gave a grim laugh. "I never said she wasn't a smart-aleck," she replied. "And if she doesn't learn to stop, she's going to talk herself into an early grave. But she hasn't actually killed anyone, yet. She hasn't even really hurt anyone — or at least, not anyone who didn't deserve it."

"That's what I said!" Xander agreed.

"She's manipulative," Buffy told Willow. "Devious. Cunning and deceptive. And… yes, she probably could end the world pretty easily. Just the same way you could, Will. But…" Buffy shook her head. "I just don't get evil from her."

"But she—" Willow started, again.

"The thing is," Buffy interrupted, "Dawn thinks these ghosts are some… leak. Something coming through from an alternate dimension or other universe or something. And it just made me start wondering… what if… Seo's the good guy? What if Seo's here to try and stop it?"

No one said anything.

"You guys saw how freaked she was when she found out that Dawn was a person," Buffy said. "What if she detected some kind of space-time breach, and came here to use the Key to close it? And now that she knows Dawn's a real person, she's stuck trying to find another way."

Willow couldn't believe this. "She's an escaped criminal!" she insisted. "That the _Doctor_ locked up!"

"Maybe… she learned her lesson," said Buffy. "Maybe the Doctor made her a better person."

"And she doesn't show up in the mirror," Willow continued. "Or—"

"Okay," Xander cut in, "I am sick and tired of this whole 'can't see her in the mirror' thing. _I_ can see her in the mirror, and I'm missing an eye. In fact, I've never _not_ seen her in the mirror! And, Willow, you threw holy water on her, and she didn't even notice."

"Xander's right," Buffy agreed. "I've seen her in the mirror. We all have. But…" Buffy shook her head. "I _know_ she can't see herself. I've seen her try to put on makeup. Mega disaster."

"And you don't think that's suspicious?" Willow demanded. "You don't think…?" She stopped. As she recognized the look on Buffy's face. "You… you actually feel momly towards her!"

Buffy turned back towards the table, hanging her head. "I don't know."

"She's been lying to you, threatening you, and manipulating you this whole time!" Willow snapped. "And you… _love_ her?"

Buffy didn't answer.

"I don't believe this," said Willow.

"She's still my prisoner," Buffy said. "I'm not going to just let her go. But… I don't know. Maybe I should keep an open mind about this."

But there was no question about 'open mind' with Willow. She talked it over with Giles. She explained it all to him. He thought it made perfect sense. Seo was evil — a threat. Suspicious in every way. Seo had to be destroyed — or she'd destroy everyone else.

If only Seo hadn't hacked Archangel using Willow's information as a cover! Willow would be at Harold Saxon's door, right now, telling him everything about this. Everything about Seo, everything about Dawn. Everything about Buffy and the portal and what could happen if Seo succeeded. And Saxon _would_ know exactly what to do.

Damn Seo. Damn her and her smart-alecky manipulativeness!

Buffy had told them, specifically, not to say anything about the murdered snake aliens to Seo. But Willow had had enough of that. Time to see what Seo actually thought about life and death. Time to figure out how Seo actually reacted to the deaths of the creatures she'd threatened Dawn's life to protect.

She found Seo in her secured room. Sitting on the bed, tinkering with something secret — something she hid the moment Willow entered the room. Willow slammed the door shut behind her.

And told Seo about the fate of the snake-like aliens.

Seo waited until Willow had finished. Her face not showing any real signs of anger or betrayal, no devastated sorrow or any trace of sadness. Just an odd sort of puzzledness.

"I thought Buffy said she wouldn't," Seo replied, when Willow had finished.

"Buffy didn't kill them!" Willow snapped.

That seemed to make Seo even more confused. "Then who…?" Then her eyes fixed on Willow. And something snapped into place. "Oh. It was you." She looked down at her lap. "No wonder Buffy didn't want you involved."

"I didn't kill them, either!" Willow shouted. " _You_ killed them all. They wouldn't follow your orders, so you killed them."

"I don't remember doing that," said Seo. She thought it over, and gave a shrug. "Are they going to be all right?"

Willow's jaw dropped. "Stop… acting… like you're stupid!" she said. "I know you have something to do with this! You threatened to blow up everyone to protect these alien snake things, and now they've all been killed, and you don't care!"

Seo processed this. "Well, as long as they weren't hurt," she decided.

Willow almost screamed in utter frustration. Seo was the most annoying twerp she'd ever run into! And here she was, just continuing to act innocent, when it was obvious…

A hand fell on Willow's shoulder. "Will," said Buffy. "I told you not to."

"She wants to kill your sister!" Willow insisted, spinning around to face Buffy. "Why can't you see that?"

"But her sister is all the way in America," said Seo. She shrugged. "If I wanted to kill someone, I could always just kill someone here. That would be a lot easier. Like, I thought up this really great way to kill _you_ , the other day. See, I could muck about with your magic books, so that you were actually—"

"She's winding you up, Will," said Buffy. "Making you angry. It's what she likes to do. If she was actually planning to kill you, she probably wouldn't tell you how she was going to do it." Then she turned to Seo. "If you don't stop threatening people like that, you're going to get yourself killed."

Seo looked down at her hands. "Sorry," she muttered.

* * *

"You never drop by anymore," Jackie complained at Buffy, as she served the both of them tea. "Here you are, in London, and all I ever see of you is a quick visit and an occasional hello as you're running off to get on with your life."

Buffy didn't know what to say.

"Things are… complicated, for me, right now," Buffy confessed, taking a teacup. She looked up at Jackie, wanting to ask her a million questions, but not sure which she could even express.

"Oh, well, all right," said Jackie, leaning back in her chair. "You better tell me all about it."

Buffy wanted to. Wanted to ask her how it felt, to know that her daughter had traveled through time. Wanted to ask if Rose had ever invaded her past, and if so — did she know? Could she recognize Rose? Did she have some… connection that was too strong for words?

But after that whole thing with Elton Pope breaking Jackie's heart… using her to get at the Doctor… well, Buffy thought that any and all talk of time travel or of knowing the Doctor would be a bad idea.

And anyways, this was Buffy's safe place. No crazy-talk allowed.

"Someone just… showed up in my life," Buffy said, instead. "This… teenager. She says… she's related to me. And I don't know if she's lying or not."

Jackie's eyes lit up. "A long lost relative!" she cried. This was exactly the kind of gossip that Jackie just loved. And Buffy could see that she was relishing it. "Oh, don't tell me she's some slacker who's moved in to mooch off you? I'll tell you what. No good can ever come from someone like that. You let her start, and next thing you know, she's eatin all your food and usin' your toothbrushes and wrecking your car, and you can't get her to leave!"

"No, no," said Buffy. "She's not… she's staying with Giles. And that's not the problem. I just…" Buffy shook her head. "She lost her mom. And… now, she kind of looks at me like… _I'm_ her… you know."

Jackie nodded. "Well, you just tell her you're not," said Jackie. "And she can forget about you writing her into your will or lending her money or any of that rubbish. Because it's time to grow up and move on."

Buffy said nothing for a long time. Staring down into her tea-cup.

"I think she's in trouble," Buffy confessed. "Serious trouble. And she… won't tell me what."

Jackie analyzed Buffy, carefully. Then nodded, seeming to understand. "She's not just treatin' you like she's your child," she said. "You're treatin' her like she's your daughter."

Buffy said nothing.

"Well, what do you really know about her?" Jackie asked. "You said she just showed up out of nowhere. How d'you know she's even family?"

"I just… feel… something," Buffy said. "At least… I think it's something. Maybe. Like, sometimes, I'm sure she's my… family… and then other times, I'm completely positive she's just making it all up." She shook her head. "She just… drives me crazy, sometimes."

"Sounds like family to me," Jackie replied.

"She lies so much," said Buffy. "About everything. Especially where she's been and what she's up to. I mean, I ask her, over and over again. And she gives me these totally ridiculous answers. She's all pretending to speak Parceltongue to snakes, and… Parceltongue! Like she thinks I haven't read _Harry Potter_ or something."

Jackie tensed a little, as Buffy spoke. Her hand trembling on her teacup.

"And half of it, I know she's just saying to make me angry," said Buffy. "It's like she's acting out so I'll notice her, or something. But when I actually do get angry, she's so upset! It's like… she has absolutely no idea that what she's doing has any impact on me at all!"

"Her… running off," Jackie clarified, "and not telling you where she is, or what she's doing. Thinkin' she can fool you with lies and deception. Like she thinks you're stupid enough to accept she's been 'just travelin' when she leaves her passport behind."

"Yes!" said Buffy. "It's things exactly like that! She just says this totally ridiculous stuff, like she thinks I'll believe it! And if I _do_ believe it, she gives me a look like I'm a complete idiot, and tells me that of course that's not true, she just made it up!"

Jackie sighed. Then muttered something under her breath.

"What?" asked Buffy.

"I said I knew this was going to happen," said Jackie. "Ever since that Doctor showed up, it's always like this! Trouble, everywhere I look. Even with completely normal people, like you — trouble! I bet you he's behind all of this. I bet you he's got something to do with—"

"What?" asked Buffy. Had she said too much? Something to suggest who Seo really was? What Buffy really suspected?

Jackie glanced around herself, then leaned in closer to Buffy. "Look, I shouldn't be telling you this," she whispered. "But… there are aliens out there. They're real! They exist! My Rose… she knows one."

Buffy did her best to act surprised, but Jackie could see through it, easily.

"And yours knows one, too," said Jackie. "Don't you go denying it! I can read it in your face. She's gotten swept up by some alien, who's promisin' to take her across the stars, and you think it's all rot. But it's real. I've seen it! Everything they've tried to cover up — Big Ben, the invasion last Christmas, the explosion on 10 Downing Street — 's all aliens! Just like Harold Saxon says."

Buffy purposely hit her head against the table. "Politics," she grumbled. "I hate politics."

"Oh, don't be like that," said Jackie, rushing over and trying to help Buffy up. "I felt like that, too. 'S overwhelming, knowin' you're not alone. But you gotta accept it. Deal with it. You know what I found out? The world's almost ended more times than you can count, and no one's ever told us normal people anything about it. 'S always someone else, somewhere else, savin' the world while you and me wait behind."

Now that was a seriously weird thing to hear.

But… what if it was true? What if Buffy had had her time, as a world-saver, and she was now destined to be the mother who stayed behind and worried while _her_ daughter ran through the universe, saving worlds and…

Hang on.

Seo wasn't running around saving worlds and rescuing alien races. Not like Rose. Seo had been locked up in the TARDIS. A criminal. Whatever Seo had had to do with alien worlds, Buffy was guessing that it was nothing good.

"But what if Seo's _not_ saving the world?" asked Buffy. "What if she's threatening it?"

Jackie thought about this. "Well," she said, officiously, "then I call up my Rose. And… I know I'm not supposed to say this, but… if she brings along her friend—"

"No!" Buffy said, before she could stop herself.

Jackie frowned. Trying to piece all of it together.

Buffy, in the meantime, was just trying to think up something she could possibly say that didn't sound super-mega-suspicious. Damn it, this was the kind of thing she was bad at.

"You love 'er," Jackie said. "Like she was really yours."

"I… no," said Buffy. "She's a liar, a manipulative, stuck-up, crazy liar, who acts like an irresponsible two year old, and she sneaks out of the house so she can—"

"Doesn't matter," said Jackie. "'S like that, with children. They drive you mad, but you do everything for 'em. Can't help yourself."

"Even if they aren't really your…?" Buffy hesitated. "I mean, what if she _is_ lying? What if… there's no connection? What if she's just using me for whatever she's planning? What if she's actually… an… I don't know… evil alien, trying to pretend to be…"

"Then you bring her over here," said Jackie. "I got a history of slappin' aliens. I'll put her in line."


	18. Chapter 18

They had all been expecting something like this to happen.

Admittedly, none of them had expected it to take place in Scotland. But… well… you can't choose where the apocalypse will take place. Buffy had learned that enough back in Sunnydale.

"Ria says this has to be the capitulation of those threats the Institution's been getting," Willow explained to Buffy, on the train-ride up. "Either we hand over the Scythe, or the world ends."

"Alien or demon threat?" Buffy asked. "No, hang on. Let me guess. Demon."

Aliens didn't usually care about mystical Slayer super-weapons. It was one of the Slayer Institution's key advantages, in their fight against aliens. Archaic weaponry that shouldn't work, but does? Yep, that was something no alien was ever expecting.

"No idea," Willow confessed. "But Ria's sending over some backup. Just… in case… you have your hands full. Or a bigger threat comes along, while we're solving this one." Willow glanced back, suspiciously, at the sleeping Seo, in the row behind them.

She had snuggled into Xander's side, her head resting on his shoulder. Xander didn't seem to mind, just grinned and waved at them. Nope. Didn't mind at all.

"I couldn't leave her behind," Buffy told Willow.

And Seo had, actually, seemed completely thrilled at the idea of saving the world. As far as Buffy could tell, Seo hadn't slept for the last 48 hours, bouncing around and asking them what it was going to be like, and what they thought the monsters would be like, and whether they already had some clever plan worked out or if they were going to have to make something up, and on and on and on.

Dawn, upon hearing Buffy complain about this, had said something along the lines of, "Well, what did you expect? Of course she wants to save the world. She wants to be like her parents."

"Seo could be the one sending the threatening messages in the first place," Willow reminded Buffy. "She's got the skills to do it. And it's exactly the kind of thing she'd do."

Buffy had to admit, that was true. It was exactly the kind of thing she'd do.

"She probably wouldn't have the monsters to back it up," Buffy offered.

"She hasn't so far," said Willow. "That's not the same thing. Lots of aliens seem all helpful and benign, until the rest of their army shows up, and suddenly, they're killing everyone right and left."

Also true.

"I've taken out uber-vamps, Bringers, Daleks, and bio-mechanical super-demonoids," said Buffy. "Whatever army might be coming to help back up Seo, I can kick its butt. No problem."

Which was good for Buffy. Because she'd been having this weird feeling, recently, like there was something really evil out there, something just out of reach. Something just out of sight. Something… that was poised, ready to strike at any minute.

Something to do with the ghosts.

"Do you have any idea what this Sphere thing is that Seo keeps talking about?" asked Buffy. "She mentioned that Torchwood was looking for it, too. She said that was why they wanted her."

Just before she'd told Buffy that she was lying about all of it.

"It's just a magically shielded Sphere," said Willow. "I'm way more worried about the Seed of Wonder she's been collecting. Whatever this Sphere is, it's nothing compared to the Earth losing its soul."

"You don't think the First sent the Sphere?" Buffy asked. "Wherever it is. And whatever it is. I mean, if you can see it, but it doesn't actually exist…"

"Buffy," said Willow. She held out both her hands, like a scale, weighing each possibility. "Seed of Wonder, containing Earth's soul and the origin of all magic. Evil Sphere thing, that may or may not be some lie Seo told us to distract us from her Seed of Wonder adventures." Willow tipped her hand-scale way over to the side of the Seed of Wonder. "It doesn't measure up."

Buffy nodded, slowly. But she didn't like it. She didn't like it at all. There was something that felt really wrong about this whole thing.

"How does Ria know that it's the Scythe the demons are after?" asked Buffy.

"They asked for the Slayer's Weapon," said Willow. "So… Scythe it is."

"You don't think they're after this Sphere thing?" Buffy asked. "Or… the Seed of Wonder? Or…?"

"Buffy," said Willow. "When we get to the castle, we'll regroup. I'm sure Leah, Satsu, and Rowena will know more than me."

Buffy blinked. Then blinked again. "Wait, who?"

Willow frowned. "You know them?"

Buffy opened her mouth to say, yes, of course she…

Then stopped. Because… no. No, she didn't. She knew nothing about them, whatsoever. So… why… did those names give her a gut reaction, like she should know who they were? And why did she keep feeling like heading to a Scottish castle was somehow… right?

"No," she said. "No, just… weird feeling."

Willow shot Buffy a sympathetic look. "Xander had one of those," she admitted. "He was certain that he'd seen Harold Saxon running around Sunnydale."

Buffy laughed. "Harold Saxon?" She shook her head. "That's ridiculous."

"Tell me about it," said Willow, with a grin.

* * *

There was something weird about the castle. Something Buffy couldn't identify, that she couldn't shake off. It just nagged at her, like she'd forgotten something vitally important, but when she tried to summon the memory, it didn't seem to exist.

And Seo just made things way, way worse.

The moment she met Leah, Satsu, and Rowena, she started staring at them. She did it normally, then again with her eyes crossed, then again at a squint, then again, tilting her head at various angles, as if trying to spot something no one else could see.

"What?" Leah demanded, after this had gone on for some time.

Seo looked around, then leaned in, conspiratorially. "You have this thing," she explained. "Except it's nothing. It isn't there. I can't see it."

"So… I have… nothing," Leah clarified.

"No, you have lots of things!" Seo insisted. "Like normal people. Except for the extra weird thing you have. Which you don't, because it doesn't exist."

Leah just nodded, slowly. And tried to get as far away from Seo as she possibly could.

"That Seo is a nutter," Leah told the others, later. When Seo wasn't around.

"She's Buffy's time travelling kid from the future," said Xander. "Her father's crazy, too. I think that's where she gets it from."

"Father?" asked Satsu. She seemed a little put out by the news.

"It's a long story," Buffy told her. "And one that I really don't want to get into."

"Buffy's like cookies," Xander explained. "Or, at least, that's what she always tells us."

"Thank you, Xander," Buffy muttered.

But Seo wasn't really their main concern, at the castle. At the moment, they were way more concerned about who these demons were, and how they were planning to end the world.

"They've been spotted here, here, and here," Rowena explained to them, pointing to different locations on a map. "All sightings say they're 20 feet high, and they shimmer into and out of existence."

"Like the ghosts," Leah added. "Except bigger."

"Do they come during ghost shift?" asked Buffy.

"Never," said Satsu. "And, unlike the ghosts, they become physically present, before they disappear. They've torn down entire buildings with just a touch, and they can roast someone alive without even making physical contact."

"Okay, that's not something I'd like to experience," Xander put in.

"Some kind of psycho-kinesis," Willow diagnosed. "Probably fueled by something in the human population, nearby. Like… fear, maybe?"

"I've seen that before," Buffy confirmed. "But we can't rule out the possibility that they're being generated from somewhere on Earth. A cover for someone else, trying to get his or her own way."

"We've thought of that," said Leah. "Ria's intelligence has been looking around the area, trying to find any possible suspects. And Torchwood Two's been helping us."

"Oh," said Buffy. "You mean Archie. Jack's mentioned him. What's he like?"

The three junior Slayers looked at each other. Then back at Buffy.

"Weird," they agreed.

"Okay, just... throwing this out here," said Xander, "but... why the Scythe? I mean, yeah, it's got superpowers, but those superpowers only work for Slayers. We couldn't even use it to heal the Doctor, and he's Time Lord Powered."

Willow and Buffy exchanged nervous glances.

"Well," Willow said, "when we did that spell, activating all the Slayers, we… did it… through the Scythe."

"Destroy the Scythe, and no new Slayers," Buffy agreed. "Then pick the rest of us off, one by one. Easiest way to destroy the Slayer Line."

For a moment, no one said anything.

"So how do we stop them?" asked Satsu.

* * *

"But I want to see!" Seo complained.

Buffy dragged Seo back, trying to suppress her frustration. "You're acting like a spoiled 10 year old," she reprimanded.

"No, I was way worse when I was ten," Seo said. "I built a neutron bomb and blew up my room." She hesitated. "And… most of the rest of my home, actually."

Giles stepped forwards. "I can look after her, while you and the others are away," he offered. "I was planning to do some research, anyways."

"Hear that, Seo?" said Buffy. "You stay with Giles and help him research, while I go out and…"

"But I've been sitting around reading books my whole life!" Seo complained. "I want to go and see stuff!"

"I can't believe it," Xander said. "She's actually worse than Dawn."

The others all looked at each other. They could clearly see that someone with Seo's strength wasn't going to be restrained by Giles. Or even a locked door.

"I'll stay," Satsu offered. "Keep an eye on her. You can go."

Seo stopped struggling. She turned, to look at Satsu. No, not just look. Examine. With a sort of animated curiosity, as if trying to work her out completely based on the scant few words they'd shared.

Then she beamed, and tugged her arm away from Buffy.

"Okay!" she said, bouncing over to Satsu. "I'll stay with her."

Buffy wasn't sure she liked the way that Seo had leapt at the opportunity. Or the way that Seo had suddenly decided that staying behind was okay. It was almost… like…

"You're planning something, aren't you?" asked Buffy.

Seo gave her a completely innocent look. "No," she said. "How'd you get that idea?"

Buffy turned, instead, to Satsu. "Don't let her out of your sight," she warned. "Keep her here, out of trouble, and don't let her interfere." Then she turned, and began to march off with the others. But stopped. Spun around. "And no matter how much you want to, don't kill her!" she added.

* * *

Satsu had only accepted the babysitting job because she'd hoped it would bring her closer to Buffy. She guessed there were worse things than babysitting an immature, Slayer-powered brat, but… she honestly couldn't think of any, at the moment.

"Do you also wish that Harold Saxon was a woman?" Seo asked.

Satsu started out of her reverie. "What?"

"Nothing!" said Seo. There was a delighted smile on her face, as she wandered around the castle. Leaping from room to room, bounding up and down spiral staircases.

It was a little exhausting.

"Have you saved the world before?" Seo asked, stopping in mid-step, between two stairs.

Satsu stopped just short of running into her. "A number of times," she confirmed.

"This is my first time," said Seo. "I'm really excited. I've never saved the world before. My parents saved it a lot. I think that's how they met. I always wanted to."

"Hate to break it to you," said Satsu. "But you're going to have to wait a little longer before you do."

"No, I won't," said Seo. "Just watch."

Satsu shook her head. "You do realize you're kind of young for this thing? Saving the world — that's a lot of responsibility for someone who's only…"

"I'm 98," said Seo.

Satsu blinked. Then blinked again. Stared at Seo. "What?"

"It's okay," Seo reassured her. "I'm very immature for my age." She paused. Then frowned. "Oh. Can you hear that?"

Satsu listened. But could hear nothing.

"Can I hear—?" Satsu began, but noticed the sudden rush of movement, as Seo dove beneath her arm, and tumbled down the stairs, towards freedom. Satsu sighed, then back-flipped down the steps and arrived at the bottom just in time to catch Seo before she could escape.

"Oh," said Seo. She gave a friendly grin. "Hello."

"You should know, I'm the best fighter at the Slayer Institution," Satsu informed her. "Ria relies on me for her most important missions. If I'm guarding you, you're not getting out of here."

Seo's expression fell. "Okay." Then she thought a moment, and frowned. "Ria," she repeated. "Do you have a crush on her, too, or is it just Buffy?"

Satsu was startled enough that her grip slackened, allowing Seo to slip away and pop back to her feet.

"How…?" asked Satsu. Then she cleared her throat. "Ria got engaged last week. And… I have no feelings… towards…"

But Seo had decided that was enough of that topic of conversation. She'd started tapping against the walls around her, squinting at them, and sniffing at them. "How are the monsters trying to destroy the world?" she asked.

"I… I'm not allowed to tell you that," said Satsu.

"Because you don't know," Seo replied, pausing in her work.

Satsu began cursing inside her head, but managed to keep calm on her exterior. "I'm under instructions to keep you out of trouble and uninvolved," Satsu replied.

"Yeah, but we both know that's never going to happen, so let's skip that part," Seo dismissed, waving the order off with her hand. "So these monsters are going to destroy the world unless you hand over the Scythe. And you want to defeat them."

"Yes," Satsu admitted.

"Except you don't know how to defeat them," said Seo. "Because you don't know how they're going to end the world."

For a few moments, Satsu was silent. "Yes," she sighed.

"And," Seo continued, "the monsters don't show up all the time. Just every so often. That's why everyone rushed off to try to hunt them down — because you don't know when or where they show up, or why, or what they look like. In fact, you don't really know anything at all."

Satsu stared at the kid. Not sure what to say. Because, annoying as it was… she was right.

Seo tilted her head to the side. "Well, except you do know one thing. They speak English."

"Wait, what?" Satsu shouted.

* * *

"Well, this is a bust," said Xander. He turned back to the others, all of whom were wandering aimlessly through the Scottish countryside. "Still nothing, Will?"

Willow shook her head.

"We should have asked Archie," said Leah. "He's been tracking them."

"Yeah, I'd like to avoid Torchwood, at the moment," said Buffy. "If possible."

Willow gave her a pointed look.

"It's just… you know what Torchwood is like with demons," Buffy added, hurriedly.

Rowena and Leah both gave the same annoyed sigh, that said that — yes. Both of them had dealt with Torchwood and demons. And the encounter hadn't ended well.

"Torchwood is good with aliens," said Rowena. "Not so much with demons."

"Well, that's why we're here," said Willow. "Slayer Institution. We're the inter-dimensional experts. And Torchwood is more like… the… the…"

"Initiative," Xander offered.

Buffy elbowed him, hard, in the side. "Some of my best friends work for Torchwood."

"Yeah, and your ex-boyfriend worked for the Initiative," said Xander. "So there we go."

"We better head back to the castle," said Leah. "See if Giles has found… any…"

She trailed off, as the air seemed to rip apart, a short ways away from them, and a twenty foot shadow of a monster seared through the sky, its fangs dripping black gunk onto the ground with a splash.

"Hey!" said Xander, pointing. "Go us. We found it."

Buffy glanced over at the other Slayers. Then, with a gesture, the three of them raced off towards the monster, hoping to get a better look. Willow and Xander struggled to catch up, their eyes still on the giant shadow monster.

"Feel anything?" Buffy asked the people around her.

Inside her own mind, she was probing around with her Slayer senses. Trying to figure out if she'd detected anything like this before. It was definitely there, and definitely evil, but it wasn't familiar. Not like she'd hoped.

"Seeing them," said Rowena, pointing up ahead, "I'm feeling mostly disappointment."

Buffy's focus shifted to the outside world, and the two figures that had just come into view. The figures that were sitting, cross-legged, on the grass, facing one another, their eyes closed, as a bright golden orb of energy surrounded them, pulsing.

Buffy swore, beneath her breath.

"That is so unfair," said Leah. "I've been training every bit as long as Satsu. How can she get the demon to show up, when I can't?"

Xander looked over at Willow. "We really should have expected this."

"Yes, we should," said Willow.

The golden bubble of energy dropped away, and the two figures climbed to their feet. They were still too far away to hear, but they could all see Seo pointing to the demon, in the air, speaking to Satsu hurriedly.

Satsu pulled out a katana, her eyes on the evil shadow monster. Her stance looking like she was going to spring forwards and strike out at it, any second.

Seo grabbed the katana out of her hand, snapping something at her. Then turned her around to face the oncoming rush of people approaching them.

"So," said Buffy to Seo, as she approached, "I'm guessing the words, 'don't interfere' have no meaning for you whatsoever."

Seo beamed and gestured towards the sky. "Look! I found your demon for you!"

"But it doesn't speak English," Satsu said to Seo.

"No, but it _is_ after the Scythe," said Seo. "That's why it showed up when we accessed your psychic energy."

"Woah, woah, wait," said Buffy. "Slow down. What's going on?"

"I was guarding her, like you said," Satsu insisted. "But she started talking about how we didn't really know anything about how these creatures were going to end the world. Or how to stop them. Or what they were. Except that they spoke English."

"What?" said Willow.

"They sent Ria an ultimatum," said Satsu. "In English. So either the monsters themselves can speak English…"

"Or whoever's sending them can," Leah realized. She looked askance at Seo. "She figured that out?"

"I didn't just figure it out," said Seo. "I found a way to prove it. After all, what if these demons had nothing to do with the Scythe or the ultimatum? What if they were attracted here by something else?"

"So we constructed a test," Satsu concurred. "Using some of the stones from the castle."

"They're psychically active," Seo explained. "I could feel them humming. And they tasted all weird and tingly, when I licked them."

Satsu's face flushed red, as did Xander's. The exact same mental image going through both their minds.

Buffy wished there was a convenient paper bag she could put over her head. Oh, God, this was way more embarrassing than when the Doctor did it. Because at least the Doctor didn't look exactly like her. "You licked the castle."

"In front of Satsu," Rowena muttered. "Bet she loved that."

"So we took one of the stones out here," Seo continued, as if she had completely overlooked the sexual undertones of her previous actions, "and used our psychic energies to complement each other. Satsu's energy all stems from the Scythe's regenerative recycling power, so she's drenched in Scythe psychic residue. The creature picked up on that. It came out, and showed up here!"

"Which proves that the two are related," Leah realized. "This creature was sent by someone looking for the Scythe."

"Who sent Ria that message," Rowena continued. "And… can speak English."

"So it's a human being, trying to end the world!" said Seo. "It has to be. A human being, or a very talented alien. Or… a very talented demon. Or maybe a bird that accidentally…"

The demon shadow creature turned its head to stare at them.

Everyone backed away, slowly.

"So, now that we've got it in the open," said Buffy, "anyone actually know how to kill it?"

Everyone looked over at Seo. She cringed.

"I hadn't… really… thought that far ahead," she admitted.

Everyone groaned.

"Well, it's only my first time saving the world!" said Seo. "Cut me some slack!"

Buffy looked at the other Slayers. "Regroup?"

"Regroup," they agreed.

Then turned, and fled for their lives.

The shadow demon looking them over, curiously, making a half-hearted attempt to follow them. But not reaching out to destroy them, the way they expected.

"Why isn't it killing us?" Seo asked.

"Maybe it's saving us for dessert!" Buffy shouted back. "Now keep moving!"

Xander, huffing and puffing, felt himself falling behind. The only non-magic, non-Slayer powered of the group. Seo, noticing, lingered a moment, hooking her arm around his, and helping him forward.

"You… you know," said Xander, between gasps of air, "what I don't get is… if these demon things only show up… where the Scythe's energy is… then how'd they end up… in Scotland? And not the States?"

Seo glanced back, over her shoulder. At the towering black creature, analyzing it. Then her breath caught in her throat, and her eyes grew wide.

"What?" panted Xander.

Seo snapped her head around to Xander. And gave him a charming grin. "Nothing," she told him, trying to push him to run faster. "Castle! Now!"


	19. Chapter 19

"Well, see, it is rather fascinating," Giles explained to them, when they arrived back. "Satsu mentioned to me that the stones of this castle contained some rather mystical properties, and so I did some research. Apparently, the stones of Ayrshire are rather famous for being important Druidic power sources. There are many famous stones in this shire, all of which probably emit a strong psychic signal."

"Huh," said Buffy, glancing at the books that Giles had set out for them. She looked back up at him. "So… what, exactly?"

"Well, see, if you activate the specific energy of every stone in the area," said Giles, flipping through pages, "at exactly the same moment… well, the energy buildup would be so astronomical…"

"That the world goes boom?" Willow guessed.

"Something like that," Giles confirmed.

"I guess that explains why we're in Scotland," said Xander.

"But why the black cloud monsters?" asked Leah. "If the only thing you need to do to end the world is activate the stones at the same moment."

Giles took his glasses off his face. "I'm... not sure, really," he replied. "Perhaps... trackers, of some sort, trying to find the Scythe?"

"Or a side effect of activating the stones," Willow volunteered. "I mean, whoever's behind this is probably running from place to place to place, activating them one at a time. Maybe, as the energy builds up, you get more and more black cloud monsters."

"Or it's just a distraction," said Rowena.

Xander glanced back, at Seo and Satsu, speaking quietly but animatedly behind them. He leaned into Rowena. "So… what's the deal with those two?"

"Satsu's only had the world's biggest crush on Buffy since she first heard about her," Rowena explained. "She was trying to attract Buffy's attention the whole first year she arrived at the Slayer Institution, but Buffy was always in England looking for the 'Watchers Council's Lost Funds', so it was no with the romance." She shrugged. "And since it's pretty obvious, now, that she and Buffy aren't going to wind up together, I'm guessing she's moved onto plan B." Rowena rolled her eyes. "If plan B wasn't a kid, that is."

"Yeah," said Xander. "Actually, Seo's about 70 years older than we are."

Rowena quirked an eyebrow at Xander. "Wait, really?" Then looked over at Seo, contemplating this. "Huh. Looking good on it."

Across the room, Seo was staring off into the distance, very distracted.

"So… your father is an acolyte of Japanese culture?" asked Satsu.

Seo started out of her reverie. "What?"

"Seiyo," said Satsu. "Your name. It's the name of a city in Southern Japan."

"Oh, that," said Seo. She shrugged. "Sure. Japanese father. If you say so."

Satsu frowned. Glancing over at Buffy, then back at Seo. She opened her mouth to say something else, but Seo got in first.

"That's what the threats say?" Seo asked. "That's all? Just a demand to apprehend 'the Slayer's Weapon' and hand it over when the whoever-it-is arrives? You're sure?"

"I'm sure," Satsu confirmed.

"And you've been getting these for a while?" said Seo. "At the Slayer Institution? Specifically there?" She glanced around herself, then, in a quiet voice, "Were they sent to… anyone in particular?"

"They were sent to the Institution," Satsu replied.

Seo chewed on her lower lip, thinking it all through.

"Why?" asked Satsu. "Is it important?"

Seo pasted a grin onto her face. "No, not really," she said. "I'm just curious." Then leapt away, and sat down at the table, to listen to Giles' lecture.

* * *

"We believe it's here," the brown-robed, hooded figure reported. "The creatures of black cloud have sensed the presence of one very close to it."

Their master rolled her eyes at them. "But they haven't actually sensed the weapon itself."

The hooded figures all looked at one another. Then shook their heads.

"You guys are so useless!" snapped their master. "I'm not the only one looking for this thing, you know. I'm not even the primary seeker! But I want it. Now. You got that? I want to use it for myself, use its purpose to further my own aims. And if I'm not the first one to get my hands on it… your deaths will seem like a mercy."

"We understand," said the hooded figures, with a bow.

"We will find you what you desire," said one of the hooded figures. "Or else someone who can locate it. We have someone we believe can lead us to it, already."

Their master sighed. "Get a move-on, slow pokes," she said. "I've got a valiant child to make sure dies in battle, very, very soon. And this distraction isn't exactly advancing my revenge plans for sweet little Rose Tyler, now, is it?"

The hooded figures all bowed again, then rushed off to do their master's bidding.

"And if you don't get this thing," their master shouted after them, fading out of existence, "you'd better burn this planet to a cinder. Because there's no way I'm letting this kind of weapon slip through my fingers again!"

* * *

Buffy didn't want to talk about this. Particularly not when she, Giles, Willow, and Xander were off looking for whoever was sending the monsters, so they could face them down. Nope. She really, really didn't want to talk about Seo, anymore.

"She knows _a lot_ about the Scythe," said Willow. "Like, really, a lot. And the other Slayers told me she's been asking them a whole bunch of questions about Dawn."

Buffy looked down at the ground, her hand clenched tight around the hilt of her sword. "What, specifically, about Dawn?" she asked, at last.

"All sorts," Giles offered. "Who she is. What she's like. How she behaves. And… questions about her past, of course."

Xander hesitated. Then, in a soft voice, admitted, "She… has been asking me a lot about that year. 2001. With Glory and Dawn."

Buffy squeezed her eyes shut.

"And you told her?" asked Willow.

"She seemed mostly worried about whether opening the portal was actually Dawn's fault," Xander replied. "I thought… maybe if Seo was some sort of… intergalactic police investigator… I should tell her the truth."

"And it never occurred to you that, perhaps, Seo doesn't understand how to activate Dawn," Giles said, "and is trying to glean this information from you?"

Xander didn't answer. It was obvious that, no, he hadn't thought of that.

"Can we just forget about Seo for a little bit?" Buffy asked. "We're out here looking for whoever's trying to end the world! Seo isn't—"

"If Seo isn't dangerous, then why did you leave three Slayers behind to guard her, this time?" Willow challenged.

Buffy hesitated a second too long. "They're… backup," she said. "In case we fail, and something bad happens."

Willow just sighed. Everyone knew what Buffy wasn't saying. Buffy might not want to kill Seo, but that was no reason to slack off on the caution.

Giles consulted his map, looking for the nearest mystical stone to them. "There," he said, pointing into the distance. "Just ahead."

And so they continued.

* * *

The stone was humming. Shaking with an overwhelming mystical power, radiating from it.

"How do we stop it?" Buffy asked Giles.

"Well," said Giles, a little uneasily, "I'm not precisely sure." He opened up one of the books he'd brought, and flipped through the pages. "There is a spell I suppose we could try, but…"

That was when three brown-hooded figures jumped out at them, knocking them to the ground with super martial arts moves.

Buffy jumped back to her feet, launching into a counter-attack. Trying to focus the brown-robed figures' attacks on herself, so the others could do the spell.

But all hope of that died, as, with a puff of smoke, Giles' book burst into flames and dissolved into the air.

"Do you remember it?" Xander asked him.

"No," Giles said. "Not at all!" He looked down at Willow, but Willow hadn't the first idea what spell it was that Giles had actually found. So there was no help, there.

One of the brown-robed figures advanced on Willow and the others, and Willow hastily constructed a ball of magical energy, throwing the figure away from them.

"We've got to get out of here," she told the others.

Then thunder cracked through the sky, and the rock, behind them, hummed with a tone so high, it pierced all their ears. They began to double up, hands over their ears, as the brown-robed figures fled.

"Damn it!" shouted Buffy. "They were a distraction!"

A shot of energy flashed through the stone behind them. Rippled through the air. And Buffy and the others realized… whoever had sent the brown-robed figures had just succeeded in its mission.

The world was doomed.

* * *

"What are they?" asked Rowena, approaching one of the castle's windows, and peering as the black cloud monsters seemed to multiply and spread, growing larger and darker and more numerous, until they washed across the sky and made it seem like night.

"Monsters," said Satsu, picking up her katana. "The kind we kill."

"They're not monsters," Seo muttered, her eyes fixed on the black cloud creatures. Then she turned on Satsu, and pulled the katana out of her hand. "I told you, before. Nothing metallic! You'll ground the energy through you and kill yourself, and it won't stop the world from ending!"

"I thought those creatures had psychic energy," said Leah. "Not electrical."

Seo gave an exasperated sigh. "Yes, and according to Zachswell's Equations, psychic and electrical energies are directly linked in the proper magnetic field. Which we now have."

"Who's Zachswell?" asked Leah.

"I don't know, I just made him up," said Seo, her eyes still fixed on the horizon. "I don't remember his real name."

She dropped the katana onto the floor.

"There's always the chance the others could stop it," said Rowena. "Make contact with the guy in charge, take him out, and…"

"All we needed was one moment when all the stones activated at once!" said Leah. "That moment's happened. There's no way to stop it, now."

Satsu crossed her arms. "Well, I'm not letting them destroy the world without a fight," she said. "If we're going to die, anyways, we might as well die doing what we do best."

"Saving the world," Rowena agreed, picking up her weapons bag and throwing it across her back.

Seo spun around. "Where are you going?"

"To save the world," said Leah, packing up with the others. "We're going off to fight. Figure out a strategy on the way. We're good at that. If you want to join us, go ahead. Otherwise, good luck to you."

Seo ran over to them, her eyes wide. "No, wait!" she said, blocking the door.

Satsu sighed. "Look, it was nice knowing you," she said, "but this is our duty. We have to—"

"Attacking it won't do any good!" said Seo. "It's a projection of psychic energy. You can't just cut it away with swords and spears and hand-to-hand combat! You have to be more clever than that."

"So what else can we do?" said Rowena. "Buffy and the others tried to fix things their way. It failed."

"Just… think about it!" Seo said. She pointed out the window, at the blue sky overhead. "Everywhere else is being swamped by those monsters. Except for _us_. This castle. _We're_ being spared. Just like we were spared, yesterday, when we were running away from that other one."

The Slayers all looked at each other. Then back at Seo.

"Why?" asked Leah.

"Because whoever this is _doesn't_ want the Scythe," said Seo. "I was wrong! Those creatures want us. And they want us alive."

Leah and Rowena looked at Satsu, who conceded that — whoever was behind this destroying the world thing — might be trying to create a bunch of sparks and bangs and flashes in the sky just because they wanted a few of Ria's top Slayers on their team.

"So, what?" asked Rowena. "We just… give ourselves up? Hope this thing goes away?"

Seo glanced at the castle around them. "Psychically active stones," she muttered.

"What?"

Seo snapped her head back to them. "Do you trust me?" she asked. "Really trust me? Enough to put your lives in my hands?"

They hesitated.

Satsu stepped forwards. "I do," she said.

The others, with only a hint of hesitation, followed suit.

"Then I've got a plan," said Seo.


	20. Chapter 20

"It's like… they're hovering," said Willow, looking at the black cloud creatures surrounding the castle in the distance. "Like they're waiting for…"

"Seo did some spell, earlier, that tricked the demons into believing that the Scythe was here," Giles offered. "Perhaps they believe the Scythe is hidden inside the castle."

"Wow, I guess it really is a good thing we left the three musketeers in there," said Xander. "Good idea, Buff." Then he noticed that Buffy was just staring ahead, no expression on her face, her eyes fixed on the castle looking almost… lost. He snapped his fingers in front of her face. "Uh… Buff? Yo, Buffster!"

Buffy blinked, then shook it off. "Sorry," she said. "I just… keep feeling… weird. Whenever I see that castle."

"So am I, now," said Willow, pointing.

The black cloud monsters were beginning to swirl towards the castle, the black specks of drool splashing across turrets and sliding down the rocks. They reached out, and the entire castle shook. But still remained standing beneath their shadowy fingertips.

Buffy looked back at Willow, Xander, and Giles. And knew this was bad. Very, very bad.

She sprinted for the castle.

* * *

"Is it working?" asked Leah, lying back-down on the floor of the main hallway, hands joined with the other two. Their heads nearly touching her own.

"Sh!" Rowena snapped, opening one eye. "I'm trying to concentrate!"

The castle shook, again. Rocks crumbled around them, but they focused their energy, and the castle held.

"Just a little longer," Seo urged. She had her fingers crossed, as she focused her mind to join with the others. Slither across their psychic energy, coax it forwards, slip into their psychic stream. "Just a bit. Just until those cloud creatures realize they have to summon their backup energy reserves."

"I really hope this works," said Leah. She glanced over at Satsu. "You trust her?"

"Yes," said Satsu. Pouring all her focus into maintaining the link. "With my life."

A sudden, sharp tang spread through the air. Lashed out through their senses. Seo's eyes opened, as she sprang to her feet.

"That's it!" she shouted, as she started to run.

And then the building collapsed.

* * *

It was like a zap of energy.

Flooding from the cloud monsters into every single stone of the castle, and then suddenly zipping backwards. Back into the cloud monsters, reversing their natural energy, eating away at their bodies until there was nothing — nothing left at all, except the blue sky and the howling and screeching of their disembodied voices, and then…

The castle collapsed into a pile of rubble.

Buffy raced forwards, her heart pounding in her throat. No. No, no, no, no, no. Not again. Not like Benjy. Not like the others. Not like all the people who'd trusted her to keep them safe, and then died right in front of her.

"The cloud monsters," Willow realized, "they were an energy looking for another kind of energy. Rowena, Leah, and Satsu must have channeled the Scythe energy back through them, and cancelled it out."

"Uh-huh," said Xander, nodding slowly. "I'm going to pretend I know what you just said, and help Buffy move castle rubble." Then he sped up, and approached Buffy, helping her clear the debris.

A cough, from a little ways away, under a great big stone. Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Giles immediately sprinted towards it, pulling it upwards, producing…

A very bruised and scraped, but generally uninjured Seo.

"Did it work?" asked Seo. She looked around her, and her eyes lit up. "No… black clouds." Her face broke into an excited grin. "I did it! I actually did it! I saved the world."

"Where are the others?" asked Buffy.

"Exactly where they were, before," said Seo. "I had to cut out of the connection early. My energy in that kind of psychic feedback loop would have been…" She paused, then coughed. "…I mean, it would have been bad," she amended.

"So… you… ran away," Willow said. "Before they had the chance to."

"I escaped out the window," Seo confirmed.

Buffy tore through the rubble, shoving rocks out of the way with an urgency that showed her strength.

"Where were they?" she cried, going as fast as she could. "Where did you leave them?"

Seo came over, helping Buffy to clear away the debris. "They were lying down on the floor of the front hallway," she said. "But you don't need to worry. I knew the castle was going to collapse. That's why I fed the energy feedback loop into the three of them, and burned out their cerebral cortexes."

Buffy froze. Looked up at Seo, her jaw falling open. "You… _what_?!"

"I knew they'd get crushed by the rubble," said Seo. "So I burned out their…"

"You killed them," Willow said. She shook her head. "You… they trusted you and… you killed them!"

Seo looked at all the angry faces around her. And furrowed her brow. "Yes," she said. "But I was careful about it. It was the only way."

"The only way for what?" asked Giles. "To save the world?"

"Well, no, I guess not," said Seo. "I mean, there were some other ways I thought up, that wouldn't have knocked over the castle, but there was a chance that, if I did those, they'd leave me trapped, so…"

"So you went with the one that killed everyone else," Xander confirmed.

"And allowed you to escape," Willow added.

Seo stared at them, her brow furrowing a little deeper. "I… don't understand."

"You don't understand?" Willow snapped. "Okay, then. Let me explain. You killed them. You could have chosen not to, but you did. You let them lie there, while you burned out their brains, because that was the one plan that let you escape basically uninjured."

"But I couldn't let myself…" Seo started.

"What?" said Willow. "You couldn't let yourself get 'trapped', just to save everyone else's life?"

Seo tried to speak, but words escaped her. "I... but it seemed like..." She swallowed, hard. "They said they were willing to put their lives in my hands."

"You asked them to put their lives in your hands, and then you murdered them?!" Willow shouted.

Seo looked over at Xander, for help. But he crossed his arms, and gave her Willow's disapproving glare.

"You murdered them," he said. "Purposely. You didn't even give them the chance to survive."

"But… it was just one life," said Seo. "I didn't think it was that big a deal. And… and… I saved the world!" She turned to Buffy, who'd stopped removing rubble. Just crouched on the ground, her eyes fixed on the stones beneath her feet. Seo took a step towards her. "I… saved…"

Buffy sprung upright, her eyes venomous, her face stormy. " _Not that big a deal_?!" she growled.

The anger around her bit into the air itself, writhing beneath Buffy's skin like a living, breathing thing. As she paced towards Seo, her every step shaking with rage, her every word slamming through the air like a tidal wave.

"What have you done?" she demanded of Seo. She stopped, leaning over the cowering girl, her eyes ablaze. "What the hell have you done?!"

"I…"

"You made them trust you," said Buffy, "and then you murdered them, Seo. You killed three people who trusted you to get them out of this alive! You made them think they were safe, then left them to do your dirty work, so you could run away to safety!"

"But… but… the building," said Seo. "I knew it was going to… this was the only way. I don't…" She shook her head. "It was one life. Just one life! They were going to give it up, anyways. I thought… it'd be okay."

"Okay?" Buffy screamed. " _Okay?!_ "

She slammed her fist down on a nearby rock, cracking it under the force.

Seo winced.

"Don't you dare speak to me again," said Buffy. "Ever. Because that kind of sacrifice is _never_ 'okay'. Never 'not that big a deal'. And if you think it is… then you're not the person I thought you were."

She turned around, her entire body still shaking with rage, and began to storm off.

"But… but aren't you going to get them out?" Seo called after her.

Buffy stopped. Snapped her head around, fixing her eyes on Seo. Then glanced over at Willow, Giles, and Xander.

"Bring her with you," she said. "Don't let her out of your sight for a single second. And if she tries to resist in any way, shape, or form, call Hartman and let her know where Seo is." She turned, and walked off. "I need some time alone."

* * *

They were staying at a bed and breakfast, nearby. Had rented two rooms, and secured Seo in one of them, with a guard. Buffy, Willow, and Xander went into the other, sat around the bistro table in the room, and tried to figure out what to do, next.

"I still say we tell Harold Saxon," said Willow. "He's the only politician out there that understands about hostile aliens."

"He's a politician," said Buffy. "He doesn't care about this kind of thing. It's all just speech-writing material for people like him." She clenched her fists, her breath coming fast. "I can't believe… she just…!"

"Me neither," said Xander.

"How could she just show up," said Buffy, "looking like… _him_ , with those eyes and those eyebrows and those freckles… and then… just…?!" She squeezed her eyes shut. "What she _said_. 'Not that big a deal'!"

"At least they went painlessly," said Willow. "That's what the coroner said."

"Did you tell the coroner that Seo was responsible for...?" Xander asked.

Willow shook her head. "If there's one thing I know about aliens," she said, "it's that the traditional police wouldn't be any help at all. If Seo's dangerous, someone has to take her out. Either Buffy, or Torchwood, or Saxon, or… I don't know. UNIT, maybe."

"I just… can't believe… she did that!" Buffy said. "She _knew!_ That's what gets me. She knew exactly what she was doing! She chose that plan, and then… didn't even risk letting them survive the castle's collapse. She purposely killed them, while she escaped. And she never even cared! As if their lives didn't… even…" She tried to calm herself, but failed.

Xander looked down at his watch. Then got up from the table. "That's my shift," he said. "Better go relieve G-man of his Seo-watching duties."

He gave one last worried glance at Buffy, then hurried off to the other room they were renting.

"Buffy," said Willow, patting her friend on the back. "We've got to figure out what to do about her. You've seen how big a threat she is. I mean, after what happened today — she can't really be your… I mean, it has to be okay for you to kill…"

"I just don't want to deal with this, right now!" Buffy snapped. "I don't want to think about it. Don't want to have to go through with it. Don't want to understand what the hell possessed her to do it. I just want to… punch something! Very hard!"

Giles entered the room, looking somber. Willow raised her eyebrows at him, in question.

Giles shook his head. "Unrepentant," he said. "As far as I can tell, she isn't even taking this seriously. She has repeatedly insisted that she has done nothing wrong. And when I asked her if she understood that she killed three people, she confessed that she did. And still! She'd done 'nothing wrong'."

Buffy's breathing grew heavier, angrier. "I can't believe I ever thought there was anything good in her," she said. "That manipulative… sneaky… self-obsessed…" She fell forward, burying her face in her arm. "And I was stupid enough to think that was my future! That maybe… I'd actually find him… and we'd actually…" She let out a desperate, angry sob. "How stupid could I get?"

Giles sat down beside her. "I'm… sorry," he offered. "Truly, truly sorry."

There wasn't really anything else anyone could say.

* * *

Seo had been handcuffed to the air-conditioner vent. Which was the most solid, unmovable thing they'd found in the hotel room.

Xander found her, curled up on the floor in front of it, her eyes focused into the distance, a lost expression on her face.

When he entered the room, she looked up at him, hope flooding her features. A hope that died, when she noticed he, like the others, carried nothing but disapproval and disgust.

"You… don't like me," Seo said.

Xander shut the door behind him. "You know," he said, "I've been suckered in by some really terrible women, before. Basically a demon magnet, that's me. But, for some reason, I actually thought you were one of the good guys. I thought I could trust you." He shook his head. "Stupid me."

Seo scooted forwards, as far as the handcuffs would allow. "But… you have to listen to me," she begged. "I didn't do anything wrong. I promise! It was the only way."

"No, it wasn't," said Xander. "You told us yourself. You knew plenty of other ways to save the world, but those ways all put _your_ life in danger. And not theirs."

"It was one life!" said Seo. "They were going to give it up, anyways. They told me. But I was clever. Very clever. That's why I killed them."

"It wasn't one life, it was three!" Xander snapped. "Three lives, and…" He examined her, carefully. "And you don't have any idea why we're mad at you."

Seo shook her head.

"Seo, you tricked them into staying behind and doing your dirty work, then burned out their brains so you could escape," said Xander. "Don't you see why that's wrong?"

"But I had to kill them," said Seo. "The building was going to collapse. I didn't…" Then she stopped. Her mouth formed an 'Oh', as she seemed to work it out. "I… mislead them. I was supposed to ask them, first. Before I killed them. Just in case… there was any reason dying right now would be inconvenient."

"No, you were supposed to not kill them!" said Xander. "What's so difficult to understand about that?"

Seo stared down at the ground, her mind thinking, furiously. Then, her eyes lit up. "I can apologize!" she said. "I'll find them. Rowena and Leah and Satsu. I'll tell them why I had to kill them. I'll say I'm sorry for not discussing it with them, more, beforehand. I can buy them iced cream and we can all laugh about this. I can make this okay!"

Xander's anger flickered, just a hair. "Wait, what?"

"It was just one life!" said Seo. "And they'd never died before. I mean, yes, they'll be angry, but… they trusted me. I'm sure I can get them to explain everything to you, when we all meet up, again."

"When we all...?" Xander stared at Seo. Trying to understand how this made sense, in her mind. He was starting to get a sneaking suspicion that… there was a reason Seo had no idea why they were mad at her. "Seo, you are aware that you killed Rowena, Satsu, and Leah, right?"

"Yes," said Seo. "I told you."

"Which means… they're dead," said Xander.

Seo looked at him like he was stupid. "They _were_ ," she said. "They're alive, now. I don't know how long it takes, but… it can't take more than a few hours, out here."

"What can't take more than a few hours?" Xander asked.

"The regeneration, of course!" said Seo. "Why do you think I burned out their brains using mystical energy?"

Oh, no. No, no, no.

"Regeneration," Xander repeated.

"I mean, I don't really understand how humans regenerate," said Seo. "But Dad told me about how it happened to Buffy. With the portal. So I _knew_ a death caused by mystical energy would allow the regeneration cycle to work. I wasn't taking any chances."

Xander felt his stomach turn. Particularly when he saw the sincerity in Seo's eyes, heard the passion in her voice.

"I mean, I didn't think it was that big a deal!" said Seo. "Because you humans, when you regenerate, you don't even change your face. You just keep going, exactly like you are right now." She looked at him. Pleading. Imploring. "Please. Just talk to Leah, Satsu, and Rowena. They'll tell you. They were prepared to give up thirteen lives, each, to save the world. I made it so they only had to give up one."

Xander stumbled backwards. "But… but you have to have seen other…" And then it struck him, suddenly. That Seo hadn't seen anyone else die. That Seo knew about her mom, her dad, and herself, and… that was probably it.

Seo had two hearts. She was probably like the Doctor. She probably had regenerative powers. And since Buffy had come back from the dead…

"What?" asked Seo. She frowned. "What is it?"

"You... but you've read books!" said Xander. "You've read _Harry Potter_! People die from mystical energy all the time in _Harry Potter_!"

Seo looked at him like he was insane. "Yes," she said. "That's what makes them _fantasy_ novels. People don't just die in real life. That's ridiculous."

Xander opened his mouth to tell her the truth. Then realized… he was so the wrong person to be doing this. So totally the wrong person to be doing this.

"I... better go… talk to Buffy," he said, stumbling towards the door.

"Can you tell her about my apologizing idea?" Seo asked. "Please?"

Xander just nodded, before he went outside, and then shut and locked the door behind him. Taking deep breaths.

Oh, he did not want to deal with this. Not at all.


	21. Chapter 21

"She doesn't know they're dead," Xander reported.

Everyone looked at Xander like he was an idiot.

"She knows she killed them," Giles replied. "She told us as much."

"No — I mean, yes, she told us that," said Xander. "But she didn't know she was killing them for good. That's why she doesn't understand why we're mad at her. She doesn't know that when humans die, we stay dead."

"Huh?" asked Willow.

"Think about it!" said Xander. "When she gets killed like this, she's like the Doctor. She just goes all gold-glowing-light-thingy, and changes her face, and walks off completely fine. She gets thirteen lives. She assumes we get the same."

"But she's not human," said Willow. "We are. She knows that."

"As far as I can tell, the only human she's ever seen die is Buffy," said Xander. "And Buffy doesn't stay dead."

Willow and Giles both glanced over at Buffy.

"Think about it!" said Xander. "She knew the building would fall down on them. That's a physical death, based in the real world — and you can't come back from one of those. So she killed the others by overpowering their brains with a massive dose of…"

"Mystical energy," Willow realized. Her face went pale. "Oh, my God."

"She knows _why_ Buffy came back from the dead," said Xander. "Her dad told her. But, apparently, he never told her _how_. And with all this talk about regenerative recyclers — she just assumed it's the same regenerative process for us as it is for her."

Even Giles was beginning to realize. "One life," he muttered. "She kept saying that. One life. Not three lives. One life."

"One life each," Xander agreed. "And none of them had died before. That's why she doesn't understand. She thinks they were on their first regeneration. She thinks they're still alive."

For a few moments, no one said anything.

Then Buffy gave a bitter, disgusted laugh. " _She_ told you this?" Buffy said, raising her head off the table. Her eyes were red, her face filled with anger and misery. "She told you something like that, and you _believed_ her?!"

"Buffy, it's true," said Xander. "Spend five minutes with her, and you'll see. She has absolutely no idea that they're dead. Right now, she's planning to apologize to them and take them all out for ice cream."

"If it's true," said Buffy, "it'll be the first true thing she's told us so far." She glanced around at the others. "Manipulation. Lies. Deceit. I'm not falling for it. Not again."

"Look, I'm not inclined to like Seo," said Willow. "I mean, I'm pretty much Miss Just-Kill-Her-Already. But… what Xander's saying… actually kind of makes a lot of sense."

Buffy shook her head.

"She is always… terribly confused about why we are so angry when she speaks of dying so casually," Giles admitted. "And… when I was in there, she didn't seem to have any concept that what she'd done to Rowena, Leah, and Satsu was wrong. In fact, she seemed rather inclined to believe… that she'd saved them."

Buffy said nothing for a few minutes.

"All right," she said, at last. "I'll test it out." She turned to Xander. "She stays locked up and guarded, tonight. Tomorrow, we take her to apologize."

* * *

Seo was thrilled, when they went over to Leah's parents' house. Buffy just watched her through narrowed eyes. Deciding her skips were too calculated. Her cheer too perfectly innocent. It was wrong. It had to be wrong. Obviously, there was no way she could possibly…

Buffy and Xander stayed some ways back, to allow Seo some space. As Seo skipped up to the house. Knocked on the door.

"They know, already, right?" Xander asked.

"Of course they know," said Buffy. "Ria would have told them right away. They know what happened to Leah, just the same way Seo does. She just doesn't want to admit it."

The door opened, and Seo began to converse with the man who opened it. The middle aged man, who looked disheveled. Distraught. As if he were on the verge of breaking down into an emotional storm of grief all over again.

Seo didn't seem to notice. Just spoke, chirpily.

"This is cruel, Buffy," said Xander. "If she really is naïve enough that she doesn't understand…"

Buffy rolled her eyes. "She isn't."

Seo's happiness faltered, a hair, as the man broke down. She tried to reach out to him, but he batted her away. A few more words from Seo, and the man began shouting at her — that Leah was dead, _dead_ , she was never coming back! His little girl and she was never coming back!

Seo tried to speak to him. Tried to explain. But her every word seemed to fuel his grief. Her every placation seemed to tear him apart. Until…

Xander could see the moment Seo understood.

The moment the entire truth of what she had done crashed on top of her. The way she stumbled back, a sudden horror washing across her face, and nearly fell down the steps leading up to the front door.

Leah's father slammed the door in Seo's face. And Seo just stood there. Unable to move. Clutching the banister as if that were the only thing keeping her upright. Her eyes wide, her mouth open, a silent scream appearing on her face.

"Huh," Buffy observed. "Go figure. She was telling the truth, after all."

Xander turned on Buffy. "That wasn't fair," he said. "You could have broken it to her more gently! You could have told her—"

Something very dark swept over Buffy's face. Something angry and biting. "She deserved it," she whispered. "For impersonating _him_. For doing something as heartless as that, while looking so much like…" Her hands shook with the betrayal she still felt.

"She told you the truth!" Xander insisted. "About that. And probably about lots of other things. She's naïve, but she's not a bad person. I trust her."

Buffy said nothing for a long moment. Her eyes still fixed on Seo.

"Really?" she asked. "You really trust her?"

Xander nodded.

Buffy glanced over at Xander. "When we get back to London, I want you to pack your bags, move out of Giles', and stay in a hotel," she said. "I don't want you spending time with Seo. And definitely not spending time alone with her."

"What?" said Xander. "Why?"

"Because one day, Seo is going to kill you," said Buffy. "And if you trust her that much, I'm not going to be able to stop her."

* * *

Seo was quiet the entire trip back to London.

Nearly silent, actually. Her face never losing that horrified, shocked, incredulous look. That terrible, gut-wrenching sadness. She said nothing, save for one thing.

"Why?" she kept muttering. "Why didn't anyone _tell_ me?"

Xander thought it was a pretty good question. Considering she'd been imprisoned by the Doctor for decades — why hadn't she known that people actually died? Why hadn't anyone mentioned it to her?

Half way through the journey, Xander tried to comfort her. Tried to explain it to her. But she spun around, and grabbed him by the shoulders, staring into his eyes.

"They're _dead_ ," she said, her voice so low it was almost lost in the sound of the train. "They're all dead. _Forever_. I murdered them all, and they're never coming back. They're never, ever coming back!"

Then she let go, and huddled up in her seat, tucking her knees under her chin, her eyes drifting out the window.

She didn't say a word the rest of the trip.

When Seo got to London, she didn't seem to notice anyone else. Walked as if trapped in a nightmare, her eyes fixed ahead at nothing. When she arrived at Giles' house, she just went straight to her room. Sat down on the bed. And stared, straight ahead, unresponsive to the outside world.

She stayed like that for three days.

The first day, they all figured she probably deserved a guilt trip.

And there were other things going on. Buffy, for one. Buffy was mega-super-pissed off, still, and she was basically shoving Xander out the door, threatening to punch him very hard if he tried to see Seo alone, again. Then there was the whole hotel arrangement thing, and Xander trying to convince Buffy that it was probably better if he didn't stay at a hotel, and Buffy refusing, and… basically, they kind of forgot about Seo.

The second day, they all started to get a little worried.

"She hasn't eaten a thing since she discovered the truth," said Giles. "Hasn't moved an inch. Perhaps she's… in some state of shock."

Yeah. Of course she was. Xander knew that. Because she'd honestly thought that she'd saved Leah, Rowena, and Satsu's lives, when she'd actually murdered them. And the way she'd found out hadn't exactly been subtle or tactful.

"Yeah?" said Buffy. "Well I really, _really_ don't care."

"But what if she's… catatonic?" said Willow. "Like you were, when Glory—"

Buffy turned on Willow. "I thought you hated her!" she snapped. "Why with the change?"

Willow shuffled, awkwardly. "I guess… it's just…" she shrugged. "Seo… made the same mistake I made. She thought… she could bring people back from the dead. And I just… can't… condemn someone for something like that."

Xander knew what else Willow was thinking. That Seo had only made that assumption based on Willow's own actions. That Seo had only thought killing those three was okay, because Willow had used magic she should never have used, and brought Buffy back to life.

"And you think that compares?" Buffy demanded. "You think that your bringing me back from the dead in any way matches up to something as… _evil…_ as what Seo did?!"

"Uh… Buff?" said Xander. "Just… to point out the obvious… Willow's bringing you back from the dead caused a serious magical addiction problem, the emergence of a demon that possessed us all, and the First to nearly wipe out the Slayer Line and take over the world. Seo's mistake cost three lives and actually did manage to save the world. I think… you're kind of overreacting here."

"Overreacting?" Buffy shouted. She pointed at the door to Seo's room. "That child is a manipulative, deceptive, cruel monster, who shows up to crush everything you've ever hoped for or believed in. That's what she is."

They didn't seem able to sway Buffy's determination.

Or to make Seo respond in any way.

"Look, I know I've been the super let's-kill-Seo person, recently," Willow told Seo, "but… what you did… I guess I kind of feel a bit responsible. See… _I'm_ the reason Buffy's back from the dead. It wasn't some… regeneration thing. It was me, screwing with the laws of nature. And… I paid the price. Big time."

No response. Not even an acknowledgement that Seo had heard.

"Humans… when we die… we're supposed to stay dead," said Willow. "We get only one life, and it's a short one, but… we make the most of it. I brought Buffy back, and… that was wrong. It took me a long time to figure that out. But… it was. Truth is… time keeps going forward, and you can't turn back the clock just because you want to."

Still, no response.

They all tried to snap her out of it. Or even just get her to eat something. But there was nothing from Seo. No acknowledgement that she even knew they were there.

"Please don't tell me she's trying to starve herself to death," Xander said, after their fifth attempt to get her to snap out of it had failed.

Willow shook her head, about to negate his fears. Then stopped. Hesitated. "She… said she tried to kill herself before."

She said she'd thought about it a lot.

"Maybe that's why no one told her that people really died!" said Xander. "I mean, she's 98 years old. She must have lost Buffy at some point. Maybe whoever locked her up was afraid that if she ever knew the truth, she'd try to kill herself, again."

Willow and Giles exchanged glances.

"That theory kind of leaves a lot of things unexplained," Willow said.

"Xander is correct, though," said Giles. "It is truly baffling that Seo wouldn't know that people stay dead, when they die. Even if she wasn't told by the Doctor — surely, before she was imprisoned…"

"We don't really know how old she was when she was imprisoned, though," said Xander. "Or why she was imprisoned at all."

"Yeah, but she was locked up in the Doctor's ship, not allowed to even speak to anyone else," said Willow. "Whatever she did, it almost certainly involved a lot of people dying. And… knowing the Doctor… I've got no idea why he _wouldn't_ make sure she knew about that. He'd probably have done exactly the same thing Buffy did."

"Only more ruthlessly," Giles muttered. "Particularly if her crime warranted such an action."

"I keep telling you," said Xander. "She wasn't imprisoned to keep her in. She was imprisoned to keep other people out!" He pointed at the door to Seo's room. "Does she look like the kind of dangerous criminal you'd need to keep under lock and key, just in case?"

"Elizabeth was," Willow pointed out. "And she didn't seem it, at first. You know, until she started acting completely insane."

Giles considered this. "It is a possibility, I suppose," he said. "Seo might have been told the truth many times, and been unable to come to terms with it. Denial. Like what we saw with Elizabeth."

"Especially if she's actually killed lots of people," Willow added.

Xander threw up his hands in the air. "Oh, come on!" he said. "Stop looking for ways for Seo to be evil. She's not evil! I mean… she's Buffy's kid! Buffy's not evil. The Doctor's not evil. So why would their kid be evil?"

"Well… maybe… maybe this is _Elizabeth's_ kid," Willow proposed. "And that's why she's semi-psychotic."

Giles seemed rather dubious about this. "She has certain qualities we've only ever seen demonstrated in Buffy," he pointed out. "Her strength, if nothing else, appears to be in keeping with Buffy's own."

Buffy rejected the possibility outright. "She's not my child," she said. "Any version of me. And she's definitely not the Doctor's. She's trying to take us all in. Manipulate us."

Xander couldn't accept it. Couldn't believe it.

Particularly not the next day, when he arrived at Giles'. And discovered that Seo was still just the way she'd been, before.

"If she is catatonic, couldn't you do that thing you did with Buffy?" Xander asked Willow, when Seo still didn't respond.

Willow shook her head. "She's not a Slayer, she's a Time Lord," she said. "And I've been the one person who's acted most hostile towards her, out of everyone here. If I tried to get inside her mind, she'd throw me out. Like the Doctor did, two years ago."

They all looked away. Not really sure what to do.

"But… if she truly was innocent," said Giles, "if it truly was an accident — if she really didn't know — then why would she feel this sort of guilt? Why wouldn't she…?"

"I think," said Willow, quietly, "maybe… this was why no one told her."

Giles frowned, surprised. "What do you mean?"

"We all know she was in prison," said Willow. "What if… she'd done something bad, in the past? Something really, really bad. So bad that she couldn't deal with it, emotionally. Some kind of… mass murder. Something she caused. And the only way her mind could cope with the guilt was by convincing herself that everyone who died could be resurrected. Convincing herself she could save them."

"So she tracked down Buffy, along with the rest of us," Giles realized, "because she knew that Buffy had been brought back. She wanted help to revive those that had fallen."

Xander stared at them. "You're really buying the whole shape-shifter not-really-Buffy's-kid thing?" he asked. "You're really siding with Buffy?"

Willow just shrugged.

"As Buffy has stated," said Giles, "the best way to ensure that she protects Seo from the Doctor is to appear as their child. It does make logical sense."

Xander shook his head. "No," he said. "No! No, don't you see?" He pointed at the door to Seo's room. "That's not just being caused by guilt. That's only part of the reason she's like this. It's being caused by Buffy! Seo didn't come here to find any of us. She's here for _Buffy_. And now, Buffy hates her."

"She's been telling Buffy she's evil for some time," said Giles. "It's hardly likely that she would actually be trying to gain Buffy's favor, when she's threatening—"

"She might be smart," said Xander, "but she's still got the maturity of a little kid. She wants attention — even if it's negative attention. She wants to act out, say crazy things, make people angry — just so someone will notice her. I mean, she doesn't even understand about death! She's not manipulative — she's a little kid who doesn't understand the world, trying to impress her mommy. That's it!"

Buffy didn't buy this at all.

"Would you stop trying to get me to comfort Seo?" she demanded. "You're the ones who told me I should kill her. So now I'm doing what you wanted, and letting her kill herself!"

"But I don't think…" Willow started.

Buffy turned on her. "What?" she asked. "You don't think what? Giles saw it. Those snake aliens saw it. So did you. Everyone that's got any mystical connection at all believes that Seo is insanely dangerous. And it's about time I saw it, too."

"Buffy, are you certain you're not just acting hard on her because she reminds you so strongly of…?" Giles began.

"I'm not being hard on her," Buffy snapped. "She gave me hope, and then she took it away. How can you forgive something like that?"

"She…?" Xander asked.

"She's evil," said Buffy. "Everyone saw it. I was just taken in."

"Look, I'll confess," Willow admitted, with a little cringe, "what I felt, about Seo — that she was dangerous, threatening, evil — it's still there. Really strong. But… I was evil, once, too. And you guys didn't just give up on me."

"You had a reason to flip out and become evil," Buffy said. "Seo doesn't."

"Says who?" asked Willow. "You don't even know why she was in prison!"

"And she hasn't exactly 'flipped out and gone evil,' now," Xander pointed out. "She's been sitting in her room, refusing to move or eat anything for the last three days. If that's a killing spree, it's not a very effective one."

"She's not my daughter," Buffy said, through gritted teeth. "She's not _his_ daughter. I'm _sure_."

"Buffy," said Giles, softly. "I understand you got your hopes up. I understand your disappointment. But taking that out on Seo isn't going to make this any better. For anyone."

Buffy wouldn't answer.

"You saw that Seo was telling us the truth about the death thing," said Xander. "You can see she feels guilty about it, now. You can't just leave her alone to kill herself."

Buffy gave Xander a long stare. One that seemed to bore into him with the fire from a thousand explosions. "You trust her," she said, in a low, biting tone. "But I _don't_. Never again!"

"But Buff—" Xander tried.

Buffy snatched up her cell phone out of her pocket, then threw it against the ground, as hard as she could. It broke into four separate pieces. Then she stomped on them, over and over again, destroying every piece, undoing every circuit, until the cell phone was in a million different tiny shards.

"Buffy—" Willow tried, putting a hand on Buffy's shoulder.

Buffy spun around. "Seo touched it," she growled. Pointing down at the debris beneath her feet. "She did something to it. Did something to all of us. Convinced us to believe in her. Messed with everything and everyone. That's how she did it! Has to be."

"Using… your phone?" Willow asked.

"Yes!" Buffy snapped. She spun around, and marched out of the house. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go buy my 8th cell phone this year."

And left, the door slamming behind her.

Willow looked after her, a sad expression on her features.

"This isn't about Seo or cell phones at all, is it?" Xander asked.

"She thought she'd see the Doctor, again," Willow said. "Get together with him. Because of Seo. Buffy really, really thought..." She shook her head. "Poor Buffy. She got her hopes up, watched them shattered, and, now, she isn't willing to take the chance she'll be wrong, again."

Giles shook his head.

"And since Buffy could be the only one to get through to Seo," he muttered, "I suppose that means… there's nothing we can do. Seo is doomed."

* * *

It was the end of the third day since they'd arrived back from Scotland, and Xander was waiting around for Buffy to kick him out of Giles'. Make him go back to his hotel room, the way she always did, these days.

But the Buffy kick-out session was late. Because Buffy was still letting off steam, fuming at Giles and Willow, in the kitchen. Xander hoped that maybe, if he just hung out down here, in the basement, Buffy would forget about him, and let him stay the night. Just so he could make sure everything was all right.

"I can't turn back the clock," came a quiet, shaky voice from the doorway.

Xander spun around, catching sight of the slender, blond figure just behind him. There was still so much sadness on her face, but a new determination had sprouted in her eyes. A determination fixed on Xander.

"Seo!" he said. "You're—"

"I'm a murderer," Seo told him, rushing towards him. "A killer. I can't bring them back. Any of them. I can't undo what I've done. But I can do this."

Then she grabbed him towards her, and kissed him.

For a moment, Xander was so shocked, he didn't really know what to do. But he was already kissing her back before he could completely register what was going on. Her lips were warm, tingly. Her hands stroking across his face. The entire thing making him feel suddenly calmer, deep inside his mind, soothed into contentment, as if she were kissing away all his fears. It made him feel warm, happy, almost glowing with a…

Except… no… he _was_ glowing. Actually glowing! A soft, golden kind of glow. Spreading out through him. He could see it, surrounding him, out of the corner of his eye. A part of him felt confused, frightened, needing to stop. And then there was the rest of him, which had been taken over by the sudden realization that…

Holy crap, he was kissing Seo! And it was great!

And then, there was something inside his mind. Or was it… _her_ mind? Something he could feel. Almost like… a click.

And the gold glow surrounding him seemed to freeze, in the air, then shatter into silver dust that ate away the light. Every warmth Xander had felt suddenly turned icy inside his veins, every tingle seemed to tear at something deep inside his soul.

He jerked her away from him, with sudden alarm. Turning his head to fix his single good eye on the silver, cold energy that seemed to spread through the air like a living thing. A malignant living thing. Before it twisted, turned, and then disappeared.

"Seo, what did you—?" Xander started.

But there was a thud, and as Xander looked back at her, he realized she'd fainted.

* * *

Giles, Willow, and Buffy all rushed into the basement, before Xander had a chance to examine Seo. Figure out what was wrong.

"The lights started flickering," said Willow. "What's going on down—?" Then she caught sight of Seo, lying on the floor.

"Oh, dear," said Giles, kneeling beside the girl, checking her over.

Buffy, behind them all, said nothing. Just stood in the doorway, her mouth open, a little, her entire posture rigid.

"I don't know what happened," said Xander. "She just kind of… showed up. And then she kissed me, and it was good, at first. And then there was this click thing, and suddenly, it turned… weird."

"She looks older," Buffy said, very quietly.

Willow frowned. Examining Seo's face, carefully. Seo had looked… well, like a freshman starting high school. And now…

"She looks 18 or something," said Willow.

Xander's eyes went wide. "Oh, no," he said. "I know you're thinking that I made out with another soul-stealing demon, but this was nothing at all like with Ampata. She couldn't have—"

Xander stopped. Then coughed. And again. And again — until he doubled over, breaking into a series of coughs and splutters, gasping for air, until…

He'd coughed out a shimmering golden cloud.

Willow looked at Seo. Then Xander. Then, a quick glance back at Buffy, who'd turned white as a sheet. Seo had been overcome with guilt and loss — that much was obvious. She'd wanted to help people, wanted to save them, and wound up leading them to their deaths without meaning to. Willow knew that kind of pain. She'd brought Buffy back from heaven, and that had been just as devastating to her, when she found out.

And when Willow looked down at Seo, again, she noticed…

"Xander," Willow said, grabbing something out of Seo's hand, something she'd been clutching, when she passed out. "Catch." And tossed it to him.

"Come on, you know I can't!" Xander complained, as he caught the object instinctively. "Depth perception, remember? I can't… catch…" He looked down, at what he'd just caught in his hand.

His glass eye.

Then he looked back up at Willow. "What?"

Giles stared at Xander, his own face growing truly shocked, as he understood the truth. "She… realized you couldn't regenerate," he said, "to regain your eye. So she gave you… some of hers."

"Her life energy," Willow confirmed. "Enough to age her a few years. Although — who knows how many years it'd actually take to age a Time Lord like that."

Xander's fingers started shaking. Not Ampata, then — the opposite. He'd stolen Seo's life, so he could see, again. Xander dropped the glass eye onto the ground, then reached up to touch the space that, he knew from experience, should be an empty eye socket. He winced, as he made contact with an actual real cornea. "Ow!"

Buffy still looked like she couldn't quite believe it. Could barely stand. "But… why?" she asked.

"Because she's _not_ a bad person!" Xander shouted. He gave a little victory jump. "See? I told you! I told you she was good, deep down inside! I knew it! She's your daughter, Buffy. And she gave me back my eye! And… and she kissed me! So there!"

And a long, long ways away — longer than even you, reader, could imagine — someone looked up. As if he'd just seen, where once he had been blind.

"2007," he said. "She's on Earth, 2007. I'm _certain._ "


	22. Chapter 22

"They're getting more frequent," Giles mentioned to the others crowded into Seo's bedroom. He nodded towards the apparition that had just stepped into the room. "And the manifestations seem to be becoming more solid, every single time."

"So you're saying I've gotten back my sight, just in time to see the ghosts take over and end the world?" Xander said. "Great. Thanks for the optimism, G-man."

Buffy was sitting right next to Seo's bed. Reaching out as if wanting to touch the girl, but afraid, hesitant, tucking her hand back into her lap. Eyes fixed on Seo.

"Buffy?" Willow called.

Buffy looked up at Willow. "Why?" she asked. "It doesn't make sense. Why wouldn't he have told her? Why wouldn't she have known? Why would he even lock her up in the first place? What could she have done to…?" Buffy looked back down, and shook her head. "It just… doesn't make any sense at all."

"I guess those are questions you'll have to ask the Doctor," Willow offered. "You know, when you next see him."

Buffy said nothing for a long moment. A second ghost trailed into the room, its form rippling through the wall, then standing to one side. Waiting.

"I…" Buffy stopped, hesitated. "Do you still feel that… reaction, Willow? That kind of instinctive magic thing, saying she's some super threat that you need to report, at once?"

Willow nodded, a little reluctantly.

"But she's not," Xander insisted. "I know she's not." He pointed to his eye. "Eye, remember? Not evil."

"You knew, before," Buffy said, turning to Xander. "You were always the one most on her side. Even when we all thought she couldn't be good, you were _positive_."

Xander just gave a little shrug.

"What is she, Xander?" Buffy asked. "Who is she? What does she want?"

"I… don't know," he admitted. "But… I'm sure she's a good person. I just know it!"

A third ghost slid through the walls, stopping just inside the room and standing there. As if observing.

Giles took off his glasses, and cleaned them against his shirt. Then put them back on, squinting at the three apparitions. "That's… very odd," he said. "I've never seen three of them at once, acting like this. They're almost like… a sentry. Or guard."

Willow looked around, as well. "You don't… think she's actually the one bringing them here?" she asked, in a whisper.

"She said she didn't want to do what she was doing," Buffy muttered. "She said she felt she had to."

"Maybe that's why the ghosts haven't gotten through, yet!" said Xander. "I mean, for a demon manifestation, this one's taking a pretty long time. Maybe Seo was being used to bring them here, realized it was wrong, and is now keeping them back, somehow!"

Willow cringed, examining the ghosts. "If she is," she said, "I don't think the ghosts are going to be too happy about it."

* * *

Seo woke up, that evening, with a gasp. Her eyes wide, her jaw trembling.

"What have I done?" she said to herself. "What have I done?"

Xander was the first to rush over to her, pushing past Willow and Giles. "You okay?" he asked.

Seo's eyes focused on him, intense concentration on her face. A hint of lightness flooding her features, as her gaze rested on his left eye. "It… worked. I actually made it work. I actually…" Then she trailed off, her hands shaking. "Blind. You're all blind. I've blinded you."

"Seo," said Buffy, softly.

Seo turned, and noticed Buffy for the first time. Tears sprung into her eyes, as she hugged Buffy, tightly. Buffy could feel the terrified trembling flooding through Seo's entire body.

"I'm sorry," Seo said, through tears. "I didn't know! I didn't know…!"

Buffy sighed. "I guess… I can see that," she admitted. Then she patted the child on her back. "And I forgive you."

Seo pulled away, abruptly. "No," she said. "No! You don't see. No one sees. Not even him!" She pointed at Xander. "Don't you understand? You're all blind! That's why I'm here!"

Everyone looked at everyone else. Not really sure how to react to this.

Seo looked down at her hands. "And… it turns out… I'm the blindest of all," she said. "Two eyes, and I can't even see myself."

"Seo," Buffy tried again.

Seo looked up, hope in her eyes, as she met Buffy's. As if she believed — so strongly — that Buffy could make it all better again. That Buffy could fix all of her problems.

"I don't understand where you're from," said Buffy, "or who you are or why you came here. But… you want a new life. A new start. I get that." She took a deep breath, prepared herself for what she was going to say next. "So… okay. If you want my help trying to lead a normal life, outside of prison, I'll… try my best."

The fear reappeared on Seo's face. "No."

"Look, I get that we've been hostile in the past," said Willow. "Me more than anyone. But… after what you just did…"

"What I just did?" Seo cried. She looked at them all, her mouth falling open. "What did I just do? What happened? If you know, then tell me! Just tell me! I'm tired of never being told anything! I'm tired of not being able to see who I really am!"

"You fixed Xander's eye," said Giles. "You gave up your own life force to help heal…"

"No!" said Seo, her head in her hands. "No, that's what I thought I did. That's what I wanted to do! But that's not what happened! It went wrong! Everything went wrong! And I've just… I don't even know… but I think… I believe…"

She trailed off.

And for a few moments, no one said anything.

"Seo," Buffy ventured, very gently. "What do you think you did?"

Seo looked at her, desperation in her voice. "I think… I've just doomed us all."

* * *

"Impossible," said a woman. "We have searched that planet a thousand times. There is nothing. No one."

"Then we've missed her," the man replied. "It would be easy enough, given the circumstances."

"Earth, 2007," the woman clarified. "You're sure?"

"I felt it," the man confirmed. "A change. She's accessed her regenerative energy. She must have. You know what that means."

The woman dismissed this with the wave of her hand. "You said the same thing about New York, in January of 1970," she said. "And we all know how that turned out." She crossed her arms. "If I have to apologize to the Silence about your mix-ups one more time, I swear I'll…"

"It's not Melody Pond, this time," the man assured her. "I know. I'm positive. It's _her_. It's _ours_. We've found her." Nodding back at their captive. "Even without his help."

The woman thought the matter over. "I'll check in with our agents, again," she decided. "Make sure we haven't overlooked anything. You send out warnings to any of the major planet-saving institutions, to see if they've located her. And… be more specific than you were last time! The Silence are the dregs of the universe, and we don't want anything to do with them or their purpose."

"We might not have the time to take such precautions."

"What do you mean?"

"She has hidden away in 2007," the man reported. "June, 2007."

The woman frowned. "June, 2007. That's dangerously close to a trouble spot."

"Exactly."

"If the Daleks find her…"

"I know."

The woman thought another moment, then decided. "Check in with our agents. Do what you can. But _find her_. Before the Daleks turn up. Get her out of there. She is too valuable and too dangerous to leave lying around on a class five planet, where any primitive race might be able to collect her. Make sure she disappears as quickly and quietly as possible, and leaves no trace behind. I'll inform my superior about the update."

The man nodded, then turned to go.

"But make sure it's the right one, this time, before you go dragging her off the planet!" the woman shouted after him, as he left the area. "No more Melody Pond incidents, you hear? I will not be responsible for breaking the contract again!"

* * *

"You know, I used to think they were such a bad thing," said Jackie Tyler, as she poured tea. "End of the world, I thought. But now I'm glad. You hear me? Glad." She set down the tea cup. "I asked for a message from heaven, for you, didn't I? Said it wasn't right, your losing so many loved ones like that. And here they all are! Back from the grave. Giving you comfort when you need it most."

Buffy couldn't say anything to this.

"I tell you what — I never thought I'd see my dad again," said Jackie, taking a seat across from Buffy. "But he shows up here, every ghost shift. And I always know it's him. They've all come back, hoping and helping and wishing us good. A miracle, that's what it is. A complete miracle."

"I've been haunted by ghosts before," Buffy whispered, into her tea.

Jackie started at this. "You've been what?"

Buffy looked up at Jackie, pain in her eyes. "I wanted it to be _her_ ," she said. "Seo. Bringing them here. I wanted it to be different, this time. But… if they really are ghosts, actual ghosts…" She looked away. "It's _me_. Again. Just like in 2003. It's never going to let me go."

"What's never going to…?" Jackie started. Then stopped, as she seemed to realize. "You miss 'em all. All the ones you've lost. Breaks your heart, seeing 'em again, knowing you'll have to say goodbye."

Buffy didn't answer.

"But they want to say goodbye," Jackie insisted. "That's why they're here. That's why they came! They're giving us another chance."

That didn't help. Didn't help at all. Because Buffy remembered what had happened, the last time she'd gotten another chance — when she saw the Doctor, again, in 2005. She'd wanted another chance, and had nearly lost every memory she'd had of him.

"People like me don't deserve chances," said Buffy. "I mean, Seo showed up, just wanting me to love her, and I treated her like…" She trailed off, unable to say the words.

"Seo? Oh, your long-lost cousin?" Jackie asked. Because, at some point, Jackie must have decided that Seo had to be Buffy's cousin. Probably after she'd told most of the Powell Estates about it. "Oh, don't be like that! You're doing your best. 'S always like that, when you care about someone. Doesn't matter who mistreated who — end of the day, you're the one left feelin' guilty."

"But… what if… what if Xander's right?" Buffy said. "What if she doesn't know anything — at all? I mean, it's impossible, I get that. If she really knew nothing, she'd never keep bragging to me about how much she knows and what a terrible person she is, and…"

Jackie sighed. "You don't know kids at all, do ya?"

Buffy frowned. "What—?"

"If this… Seo, was it?"

Buffy nodded.

"Well, if this Seo looks up to you, she's not going to admit she doesn't know somethin'," said Jackie. "Same way with my Rose. Tryin' to look all impressive, wanderin' around the universe. Deep down inside, I know — she doesn't have a clue. 'S all the Doctor, see? But she'll never admit it, my Rose. Rather get 'erself right in the thick of it, where she can get 'erself killed, rather than admit she doesn't know what she's doin'."

Buffy didn't know what to say to that. She'd never even thought of it.

"It was just the same with Jimmy," Jackie continued. "Nothing but, 'don't worry, mum', and 'I'll be fine, mum', and 'I never needed my A-Levels anyways, mum.' Even when he started hittin' her, she'd rather say she deserved it than admit to her mum that she didn't know what she was doin'."

Buffy remembered that. She remembered how Rose had cried, just after Buffy had beat up Mr. Jimmy-Stone-Abusive-Boyfriend, going on and on about how she couldn't face her mum, not when it meant admitting that she'd been wrong and her mum had been right.

"You think… Seo doesn't know anything?" Buffy asked. "That she'd rather I think she was a horrible person than admit that she didn't know stuff?"

But it just seemed so… weird. Seo had always struck Buffy as being so manipulative, so strategic, so… playing at something! She'd always seemed to have a plan. Always seemed to be working towards some… goal.

The thought coursed through Buffy's mind, over and over again, even after she'd left Jackie's. Even when her sister called, to give her latest check-in update friendly-hi thing.

"Wait, seriously?" Dawn asked. "You're asking me if you think it'd be easier for Seo to tell you she was evil rather than unknowledgeable?"

"Well, do you think it would be?" Buffy asked. "I mean, I've saved the world, a lot, and most of those times, I never really knew exactly what I was…"

"Obviously, yes!" Dawn exclaimed.

Buffy was taken aback.

"Come on," said Dawn. "I grew up in _your_ shadow, and that was hard enough. Can you imagine growing up knowing that both your parents were super-legendary, ultra-competent planet savers? Yeah. That's mega pressure."

Buffy faltered. "But… but she said she'd just doomed us all!"

"Well, yeah," said Dawn. "But that doesn't mean anything. I mean, at least if you think she's a threat, it's some confirmation that she's smart and powerful enough to be substantial, in your eyes."

Buffy didn't know. She just really, really didn't know.

"Xander liked her from the beginning," said Dawn. "Obviously, he saw something that the rest of you didn't. So, short of reading Seo's mind, I guess the best thing you can do is ask him."

Buffy blinked. Then blinked again.

"I've just had an idea," she said.


	23. Chapter 23

Seo was leaning over something on the dining room table. Something she was working on, a somber expression stuck to her face. Something she was concentrating on, very diligently.

The moment Buffy entered the room, Seo hid whatever-it-was inside a pocket, turning to face Buffy with innocent eyes. Eyes that had always seemed to be such an act.

Or… was it the bravado and self-assurance that was the act?

Buffy stopped, some ways away from Seo. "Hypnotize me."

Seo's eyes widened. "What?"

"Hypnotize me," said Buffy, stepping forward. Seo flinched back. Buffy stopped in her tracks. Standing still. Lowering her voice and trying to sound as gentle as possible. "You hypnotized Xander, and it made him see something good in you. Something he can't get over. I just want to know what that is."

Another step forward.

Seo stumbled out of her chair, her guard suddenly up, her eyes darting around the room for possible avenues of escape.

"I… I can't hypnotize you," Seo said. "You're not a squirrel."

"Xander said you couldn't hypnotize squirrels," Buffy pointed out.

"Then… I can't hypnotize you because of that!" said Seo. "I don't know how. I'm stupid."

"I never said I wanted you to succeed," said Buffy. "I just want to know what Xander saw. Whatever you did to him, you can do to me."

Seo backed away, a little further. "Don't," she begged. "Please… just… I'll do whatever you want. I'll let you tell Torchwood where I am. I'll let you report me to Harold Saxon! Just… not that. Please, please, not that."

Buffy edged closer, trying to assess Seo's backing-away-type actions, figure out how best to block her escape. "Why?" she asked. "What would happen, if you hypnotized me?"

Seo spun, and ran towards the door to the kitchen — but Buffy had anticipated the action, and sprung forwards, tackling Seo to the ground. The girl squirmed, trying to get away.

"I just need to understand the truth!" Buffy insisted. "You want me to like you. You want me to trust you. I'm giving you a way to do that without your telling me all your secrets!"

Seo's breath came even faster.

"Please," she said, jerking her head around, as if she were worried Buffy might grab it. "I don't want to. You don't want to see… you don't want to know…"

But the jerking motion was giving Buffy an idea. Because… back when Seo had been nearly killed by Torchwood poisons, Buffy's CPR stint had healed them both. What if… there _was_ some connection between them? What if Buffy didn't need Seo to hypnotize her, in order to read Seo's mind? What if all she had to do… was grab hold of…?

Buffy reached out, and clamped her hands around Seo's head, forcing her mind to do the weird reachy thing it had done, back when she'd been with the Doctor. Forcing herself to concentrate, find that spark of inner connection between them…

_A hazy memory. Almost not there at all…_

_People were running. So many people running. And screaming. People all around her, a forest of legs and shoes, kicking at her, trampling across her arms, and running into her stomach. She sniffled, and only then realized that she was sobbing._

_A shattering sound above her, and she looked up. The sky had shattered like glass. Sprinkling down on them. No more light. No more sun. Night time — maybe this was night time. When night time arrived, the sky became dark, and they gave her a bath and sang lullabies and tucked her into her crib, even when she didn't want to sleep — she wanted to go and explore._

_Another kick, in her side, and she screamed._

_The ground shook beneath her._

_No one. No one left! The air tasted like endings, but she didn't understand what it meant. She wanted her blanket. She wanted her stuffed animals. She wanted to go home, and know that they were there, know that they'd tell her she'd been brave, she'd been wonderful, she was safe, now. She wanted to curl into a ball and cry herself to sleep._

_The ground opened, with a blinding light, in the distance. People crashing down into the hole._

_The forest of legs nearby rushed faster. Tangling around her. The screaming of those nearby grew more and more desperate. She was kicked off her balance — couldn't remember how to walk. Didn't want to walk. Crawling, that was safe. When she'd crawled, the ground never opened up and the sky never shattered. When she'd crawled, she'd never been kicked and run over and shoved._

_She scurried beneath a bush, and huddled into herself. Tears in her eyes._

_The world shook. A shaking that seemed to make everything stop, stand still. She didn't know. Couldn't understand. She saw — past even her eyes, saw deep into time — saw crumbling and destruction and a brittle, tasteless dustiness. But… she didn't understand what it meant._

_How? Why? What was happening? She squeezed her eyes shut. They would find her. Had to find her. Always found her, even when she ran. They'd find her, again, bring her home, take her away before… before…_

_She didn't even know what. But it scared her, scared her more than the cracks that were appearing in the ground beneath her. More than the energy scorching her skin, as it poured out of the ground. More than…_

_"Seosyrae," came a voice. And a set of gentle hands — large hands, giant's hands — picking her up off the ground. The face that accompanied them too blurry to see through her tears and her crying._

_"Shh," he coaxed her, rubbing her back. "Shh. It's all right. You're safe. I promise."_

_And slithering across the memory, as if added there by a much older, wiser, more enlightened Seo, was the understanding, the pain, the guilt and horror and misery. Because she knew what had happened. Knew what it meant. And she knew that everything happening in that memory, everyone dying, everyone already dead —_ she _had been the cause…_

Buffy gasped, as the connection was broken. As Seo scrambled away, edging back against the far bookcase. Curled up into herself, just as she'd been in the memory. Tears hanging in her eyes, an angry expression on her face.

"Are you happy?" she demanded. "Do you feel any better, now? Knowing what I did? What I am? Why I was in prison?"

Buffy didn't know how to answer this. Her mind kept reeling with the memory, the information, the snatches of ideas and thoughts and notions that had poured through her, during her seconds of contact with Seo's mind.

"You destroyed a planet," Buffy said. "That's why."

Seo looked away. Unable to meet Buffy's eyes.

"How old were you, when it happened?" Buffy asked.

"Does it matter?" said Seo. "It's what I did. It's who I am inside. Seosyrae. The criminal. The murderer. My parents saved worlds. And I destroyed them." Her hands bunched into fists. "And no one told me. No one ever told me anything. Locked up for years and years, and I never even knew why! Never even understood… what I'd done… what I am… what it means…"

But Buffy knew the answer to her question already. Knew it from the memory.

"You were a child," Buffy said. "No, a… a baby. You'd only just learned to walk. You didn't even understand what was going on."

And that was why no one ever told her that people died. Because then she'd realize what she'd done. She'd understand what all those deaths had actually meant.

And, if she really was Buffy and the Doctor's child, she'd probably take after them, and have a seriously massive guilt complex. Feel terrible about something she couldn't have stopped. Barely even remembered.

"I'm dangerous," said Seo. She wiped her eyes on her sleeve, and gave a stubborn sniffle. Getting to her feet. "I was like that before I went to prison. And I'm still like that, now. I killed Leah, Rowena, and Satsu. Even when they trusted me to get them out of it alive. I murdered them. That's your proof that I haven't changed."

Buffy stared at her. "But you can't possibly think—"

"You save and fix and help," said Seo, leveling dark eyes at Buffy. "But I'm not like that. I don't 'fix'. I don't 'repair'. I tear apart. Dismantle. Destroy. That's what I was made to do. It's my purpose. It's all I know."

Buffy opened her mouth, but didn't know what to say.

Seo walked past Buffy, her head down, staring at the ground. Placing an object on the dining room table, as she went by it.

Buffy picked up the object. Stared at it.

Her smashed-up cell phone. Fully repaired. Fully functional. With only a few cracks along the outer casing to show any damage had been done at all.

"You… fixed my phone," said Buffy. "You repaired it."

Seo paused, in her walk. Glanced over her shoulder, meeting Buffy's eyes with her own. Her own dark brown ones — so much darker with the echo of painful memories inside her pupils. "At least I fixed something."

Then turned away, and left.


	24. Chapter 24

"What are we going to do about Seo, this time?" Xander asked.

Buffy had been expecting this question. She'd already gotten it from Willow, Giles, and — via telephone — Dawn. She'd already asked herself the question a million times.

"The last time she tried to save the world, she wound up killing three people," said Buffy, packing up her weapons bag, and securing it. She shoved it over one shoulder. "This time, I'm not telling her anything."

"What do you mean, you're not telling her anything?" asked Xander. "You mean, anything about your plans? Because she figured it out, pretty fast, last time, even though—"

"I mean," said Buffy, "I'm not even telling her the world is in danger. She gets to sit at home with Giles. We three find the evil cult, and stop the ritual before the demon gets summoned and the world gets destroyed. That way, no one kills anyone else, no one has to worry about what secret motives other people might have, and no one has to have serious guilt-trips about their past mistakes."

Xander gave a slow nod. "You… still don't trust her."

"Let's just say… I'm pretty sure she isn't telling me the whole truth," said Buffy. Because if she was, then there was no way the Doctor would have done what he did. The crime Buffy had seen, in that memory, hadn't been severe enough to warrant the isolation and imprisonment Seo had endured. Not if Seo was a baby when it had happened.

And, besides. Too many other things just didn't make sense. Didn't make sense, at all.

"At least this apocalypse is in London," Willow said. "She probably won't even notice we've been gone."

Xander sighed. "It's Seo. She'll notice."

But that was all right, because they'd be done way before Seo could actually do anything about it. Some cult using ritual sacrifice to summon a demon and destroy the world? If there were three people who were _really_ good at that one, it was Buffy, Willow, and Xander.

Buffy pushed open the door to her apartment. "Apocalypse prevention time. Let's get this thing over with."

"Just like old times," said Xander, following Buffy.

"Just like old times," Willow agreed.

* * *

The first fifteen minutes or so had gone exactly according to plan. They took the Tube down to Marlyborne, managing to hide their weapons carefully enough that no terrorism-terrified civilians decided to call security and get them all arrested. Then raced out of the station, and quickly located the cult's secret headquarters. Broke in through the window, weapons drawn, and raced into the basement.

Because evil cult ceremonies to end the world always took place in the basement.

Buffy could hear the chanting coming from downstairs. Tried the door, realized it was locked. Well, locked for normal people. Not for Slayers.

With a shove, Buffy forced the door off its hinges, barging her way into the basement, crossbow drawn. "Okay, stop what you're doing, and maybe I'll let… you…" Buffy stopped. Froze.

As she stared out at the empty basement, in front of her.

Empty, save for the husk-looking bodies of the cult's followers, strewn across the floor. Their corpses crumbling to dust. And a boom box, in the center, playing a loop of the ritual chanting.

Willow lowered her weapon. "How many cult members did Giles say to expect?" she asked.

"Thirteen," said Buffy, lowering her own weapon. "Twelve followers, one leader."

"So… that's all of them, then," said Xander, coming to the end of his silent head-count. "Everyone except the leader."

Buffy felt the familiar nagging disgust of failure rising inside her heart, but stuffed it back down. She spun around. Mourn later. There were 6 billion people whose lives were still at risk, and Buffy needed to find a way to stop that.

"Wherever the leader's going next, and whatever he's planning to do to summon the demon, the answer has to be in here, somewhere," Buffy said. She approached a desk area, and began shuffling through papers, trying to find something. Anything.

Willow and Xander had already launched into their own fact-finding research mission.

But there was nothing. Nothing at all! Nothing except a passage that Willow found in one of the cult's holy litanies, explaining that, "During the first phase of the ceremony, your souls will be delivered to the Alzoncren, and he shall deem you worthy or unworthy."

"I'm guessing that means all those guys were 'unworthy'," Xander said.

"It goes on!" Willow said. She squinted at the book. "'Then shall the blood of an unbeliever be spilt, and the blood of the Earth shall mingle with the Earth itself. At that time shall Alzoncren arise in true form, consuming all unbelievers in its path.'"

"Yeah, but where?" Buffy demanded. "How?"

But they found nothing. Nothing at all. Not a single trace.

"We were doing better figuring out about the ghosts," Xander complained. "And we still don't have any idea what they are."

Buffy was about to retort something, when her cell phone rang. She took it out, checked the caller ID.

"Giles," said Buffy. "He must have found out more on his end." She pressed the answer button, then held the phone up to her ear. "Hope you have something good for us, because we're left high and dry over here."

"Well… yes, actually," said Giles, his voice laced with hesitation. "That's… why I rang you. See, Seo believes you're looking in the wrong place."

"Seo?!" Buffy shouted. "You told her about…?"

"I told her nothing," Giles insisted. "She made a number of very good guesses, and worked out the rest."

Damn.

"Okay, well, just, put her on," said Buffy. "I'll see what she knows."

A pause, on the other end.

"Ah," Giles muttered. "That might be… rather difficult. You see, Seo… isn't here."

"She escaped?!" Buffy cried.

"Well, not precisely," Giles admitted. "I sort of… let her go."

Buffy's jaw dropped.

"I know what you're going to say," Giles insisted, "but… I had no choice, Buffy. You have to believe me."

Oh, no. No, no, no!

"Are you okay?" Buffy asked. "Giles, did she hurt you? Hit you over the head? Drug you? Tie you up?"

"Well, no," said Giles. He sounded a little dazed. "No, she simply… sat me down, and explained to me how all the facts perfectly matched her theory, and that you and the others were too far away to reach the correct spot in time, and if we didn't leave, immediately, the entire world was going to end."

"So why didn't you go with her?" Buffy demanded.

"I did," Giles said. "But we were waylaid by a group of various unrelated demons, on the way. We must have been separated in the struggle, because at the end of it all, Seo was nowhere to be seen."

Buffy swore under her breath.

"Okay, okay," she said. "Just… where was Seo going? Do you know?"

Giles gave her the address, and Buffy jotted it down on her hand with a pen. Then, capping the pen, told Giles, "Go there. Find Seo. Do… whatever has to be done to stop the end of the world. And… I promise, we'll be there quick as we can."

* * *

Giles had been running fast as he could, but not even he could possibly have predicted the way in which he'd be stopped. And by whom.

He noticed the limo pulling over to the side of the road, of course, as he was racing by it. But he hadn't thought it was for him. Not until he heard the charismatic, calm, convincing voice calling out, "Rupert Giles?"

Giles stopped in his tracks, spinning around. He blinked, jarred by the man who'd stepped out of the limo, now standing there, facing him. Giles adjusted his glasses. "Good Lord," he said. "It's you."

For there was the man himself.

Harold Saxon.

Saxon put on a self-assured smile, and walked forward, taking Giles' hand in his and shaking it. "That's right! Harold Saxon!" he agreed, looking right into Giles' eyes. "I'm sure you've heard of me. And I've heard of you. You and your little group of world savers."

Giles felt himself going almost red in the face. He hadn't realized that even Harold Saxon had heard of him and the others!

"A group that includes," Saxon continued, "a certain Miss… Rosenberg, yes?"

Oh, dear.

"Listen, I'm terribly sorry about what has happened," said Giles, slipping out his wallet. "I promise, I'll pay whatever you need, to fix the damage to your network. It really was—"

Saxon waved the matter away with his hand.

"Oh, think of it as a gift!" he said. "A thank you for making my job that much easier." He grinned at Giles, and put an arm over his shoulders, leading him back to the limo. "That wasn't why I found you. You see, I need your help."

"I…" Giles hesitated, looking at the street he knew he should be running down. The world would end, if he didn't stop it. He knew that. "If this could wait, just for an hour or two — I really am very busy, at the moment. You see, there's this—"

"Oh, I'm certain Elizabeth will take care of that," said Saxon, opening the door to the limo, and ushering Giles inside. "Killing evil monsters? That's what your little Slayer does best."

Giles got into the limo. Of course she could. Silly of him not to recall that. Buffy was perfectly capable of saving the world — and she had Willow, Xander, and Seo all with her, now, which made things far easier.

In the same thought, Giles promised himself he'd keep his word and his allegiance to Buffy — he wouldn't utter one syllable about Seo to Harold Saxon.

But he had duties to the rest of humanity, as well. Duties that Saxon knew only he, Rupert Giles, could fulfill.

Saxon sat down, opposite him. Shutting the door.

"So, Rupert Giles," said Saxon, staring straight into Giles' eyes. "Tell me. What do you know about Willow Rosenberg?"

* * *

Buffy had been expecting Giles. Or maybe a major fight in progress, or a super spell, or something. What she hadn't expected to find was a basement, through which she could hear the muffled, terrified pleas of someone who'd been gagged, and two voices. Talking animatedly.

"…at which point, the entire world will bow before me," the male voice said. "I will be the ruler of Earth, and my hand will open the gateway to the demon realms. I will have power over life and death."

A pause.

Then, Seo's laugh. "Wait, _that's_ your plan?" Seo asked. "Really?"

Buffy crept down into the basement, to discover Seo — completely unarmed, looking every bit the small, helpless, harmless teenager who'd just stumbled upon this without any idea what she was getting into — speaking to a middle-aged, salt-and-pepper haired man, with cruel black eyes. Who Buffy recognized from the giant wall-sized posters back in Cult HQ, was the Leader.

Behind Seo and the Leader, restrained, gagged, and tied to the middle of a long pole inside a chalk circle, was someone who looked suspiciously like an accountant. In fact, probably an accountant from this very building, if Buffy guessed correctly.

The 'unbeliever' whose blood would summon the demon.

"It is a plan of conquest," the Leader said. "A plan that will decimate—"

"It's a plan that sounds like it was thought up by a ten year old," Seo retorted. Her eyes flicked over to Buffy, for half a second, then shifted back to the man in front of her. She took a slow step back, away from him. "Honestly, you've been planning this for… how long? And it's still disgraceful."

The Leader narrowed his eyes at her, and advanced on her. Seo took another step back.

"First off," Seo continued, "it sounds like you're not really all that interested in actually _ruling_ much of anything. What you really want is to get revenge on some people you felt hurt you. And to do that, you're planning to summon this… Alzoncren. A powerful demon that you've only ever read about, and have decided — in some bizarre leap of logic which, I can only imagine, speaks volumes for your own level of mental delusion — you can control."

The Leader lunged at her, and she darted out of the way. He stumbled forwards, and Buffy realized that Seo was trying to get him away from the captive. Far enough away that Buffy and the others could move in, when he wasn't looking, and get the captive out of there.

"I can control him," the Leader snapped, swinging out at Seo, hoping to grab her and drag her towards him, but he caught only air, as Seo leapt out of the way just in time. "I am great! All powerful! I will be able to use him to destroy…"

"Destroying!" said Seo. "That's another thing you've got wrong. How are you expecting to survive if you kill off everyone on the planet who's going to be able to supply you with food, clothing, and shelter?"

The Leader punched out at her, his hand going right through the wooden panel of the wall, as she sprung out of the way. "You trifle with me at your peril," he warned, shaking off the wooden board. "I have the strength of my followers. They have fed me their life essences, and with that strength, I could crush you like an egg."

"I'm just saying," Seo pointed out, as she continued backing him away from the captive, "that you're going about this all wrong. From what I've seen, so far, the human race isn't all that united in the first place. If you take over the world the way you're saying, all you'll really be doing is uniting humanity against a common enemy."

He charged at her, again, just missing her as she ducked, and rolled across the ground, popping up a little ways away.

From the other end of the room, Buffy, Willow, and Xander all scrambled forwards, cutting the captive's ropes and frantically trying to free him. There were a lot of ropes. Thick ropes.

"What you should do," Seo continued, "is let loose a group of demons you _can_ control, and set up a fall-guy to take the blame for releasing them. Then, when humanity unites against the common threat, _you_ can position yourself as head of the resistance movement, and use your clever way to control them in order to save the day and gain everyone's affections. You'd be in a perfect position to manipulate everything, then. That would be a much better plan."

The Leader's face turned red with rage. "You think a mere child can imagine a better…?"

"And, really, what's the point, anyways?" Seo cut in. "Have you thought of that? So you want to take over the world. Fine. But why? What would you gain from it? Factoring in all the costs — the deaths, the damage, the devastation and sorrow. The exploitation of other people's pain simply to promote your own small-minded view of the world…"

"I will gain power," said the Leader. "Supreme power. Power over all. Power over everything."

Seo actually laughed at this. "'Supreme power'?" she cried. "Why would anyone want that? I've met people with that kind of power, before — _real_ power, not the silly, insubstantial, rule-the-world nothing you seem to value so highly—"

A shout of anger, and another dodge from Seo.

"—and they are always…" Seo struggled to find the right word. "Sad." Her face fell. "Terribly… terribly sad. Sad and alone. And… lost. I suppose."

He lunged at her, but this time, distracted by what she was saying, Seo wasn't quite fast enough to duck out of the way in time. His hands gripped her shoulders, tight, and his eyes bore into hers.

"You think yourself so clever," he gritted through his teeth. "So much more than me. But you are nothing. Nothing at all. I know all. I even know what you've allowed to happen to my unbeliever. And I let it happen."

Seo's eyes held a trace of fear, then flicked over to Buffy, as if to confirm whether she should stall longer, or could escape.

Buffy ushered the accountant up the stairs, trying to hush him while he talked about compensation and suing for damages and a whole bunch of other things that made Buffy more and more inclined to shout, "Fine, you don't want me to save your life? Then go back down there and get sacrificed to a demon! See if I care!"

Then a sharp gasp from the other end of the room. Buffy snapped her head around, in time to see the Leader's knife plunge deep into Seo's chest.

"Because your blood is just as much from Earth as his," the Leader whispered to Seo, "and your life so much more satisfying to take."

Buffy ran to the railing along the top of the stairs, preparing to race down them, when the staircase broke apart and collapsed in front of her. Leaving her stranded at the top, as the Leader tossed Seo into the center of the chalk circle.

An incantation on his lips, as he advanced on her. The energy rushing across the circle, and pinning Seo in place.

"Seo," Buffy breathed.

She tried to push forwards, flip over the edge of the guardrail, land on her feet, and then beat the hell out of this Leader guy — but the energy flooding from the edges of the chalk circle pushed her back, making her and Willow topple backwards on the raised platform, and pushing Xander over the edge, so that he only clung to the platform with a single hand.

Buffy grabbed Xander up, as did Willow, the both of them dragging him back to safety. But by the time they were done, it was too late.

Far, far too late.

The electricity in the building flickered, as the words of the incantation concluded, and the Leader paced towards Seo with eagerness in his eyes and malice in his limbs.

"You are too late to save your friend," the Leader announced to Buffy and the others, with a laugh. "Her blood has mingled with the Earth, fused with it, and the gateway to the demon realms has opened. My Lord will come through, and he will feast upon this world, obeying my command."

Buffy grabbed up a sword, and dove off the platform, flipping through the air and striking out at the Leader. But both Buffy and the sword stuck in the air around him, as if caught by some unseen power, and Buffy couldn't pull free.

"Arise, my Lord Alzoncren!" the Leader shouted. "Enter this world once more!"

For several moments, nothing happened.

"Big mistake," Buffy said, trying to pry herself free from the mystical sticky-air surrounding the Leader. "Because Seo wasn't born on Earth. She's an alien. Your spell needs the blood of the Earth, and that means her blood will never, ever—"

Then a streak of energy rippled through Seo, spreading out from the ceremonial knife still embedded in her chest, and she buckled against the ground, with a scream ripped from her throat.

And as every light in the building flickered out, the glow of energy rising from Seo's body seemed to intensify, solidify, unfolding in the air in a rush of colors and wind, the enormous demon arising over his prey with a snarl and a growl, his eyes seeking out life forms in the darkness.

"At last!" the demon cried, extending his arms. "After centuries trapped inside this miserable planet, I, Alzoncren, have returned to wreak vengeance on the human race that imprisoned me."

Willow and Xander stared at the demon.

"Seo… actually _is_ from Earth," said Xander.

"You know, I really, really hoped she was lying about that one," Willow said.

Below, the Leader prostrated himself before Alzoncren. "My Lord!" he announced. "I have brought you back from the darkness, and provided you with these four human sacrifices."

Alzoncren's eyes fixed on Buffy, a malicious laugh issuing from him. "A Slayer!" he cried, in delight. "Oh, yes. The justice. Imprisoned by a Slayer, and now it will be a Slayer who gives me the life energy I need to avenge myself. She will make a fine meal." His eyes flicked down to the ground. "But first, I must absorb the creature whose blood has given me life. The creature whose life essence will allow me to step beyond the circle and walk upon the world once…"

Alzoncren stopped, in mid-sentence. As his eyes made out the panting, struggling image of Seo, trapped in the energy field down below him.

Upon seeing her, all confidence vanished, and a look of utter panic spread across his face.

"She is young, my Lord, but has a strength and courage that will elevate you above all others," the Leader assured the demon. "Her life will bring about our dominion over—"

"You idiot!" Alzoncren shouted, a hint of complete terror in his voice. "Do you have any idea who this is? Do you have any idea _what_ this is?"

The Leader hesitated. "She's… a human, native to this planet, who…"

" _She_ is the one the prophecies have been warning about!" Alzoncren cried. "Death is coming, death for all, and she — _she_ is Death! She is the End of All, the Coming of Darkness, the Vanquisher of Life!"

"But compared to the might of your Lordship, surely she is tiny!" the Leader exclaimed. "She could not hope to defeat…"

A scream from Seo, and a burst of silver energy, flooding through the basement like a flame that had just been given a gallon of lighter fluid. And, in a twisted cry, both demon and Leader shattered in the air, their bodies crumbling to dust and blowing away.

The lights and electricity flickered back on.

Buffy, released from the hold of whatever supernatural power had kept her stuck, stumbled to her feet, rushing over to the circle, where Seo was panting for breath. Buffy checked the wound. It was spot on. A dagger thrust right through Seo's leftmost heart.

For a human, a fatal blow.

But not for Seo, thank God.

Up above, Willow and Xander attached ropes to the raised platform, and slid down to the basement floor, rushing over to Buffy and Seo.

"The dagger's stopping most of the bleeding," Buffy told Seo. "And you've got a spare heart, so you're going to be fine. But you have to stop freaking out, okay? You're making your heart pump faster, and that's speeding up the…"

Seo grabbed Buffy's hand, squeezing it so hard that Buffy thought it might break. "Don't… leave me," she begged. "Please. Don't…"

"It's okay, I'm here," said Buffy. She glanced up at Willow and Xander, with a 'what the hell do I do now' look on her face.

"Stop your left heart," Xander proposed to Seo. Because he'd heard that the Doctor could do that, and it seemed like the best possible way to get her through the immediate danger.

"How?" Seo asked, her voice faint.

Xander looked at Buffy. Buffy looked back at Xander.

"You… don't know how to stop your left heart?" Buffy asked Seo. "That's not… just… some skill you're born with?"

"No!" Seo said, panic in her eyes.

Buffy could tell that she was not making matters any better. Now she'd freaked Seo out, and her hearts were pumping even faster, and…

"I'm… I'm going to die," Seo realized. She groaned, trying to suck in the pain. "I'm actually… but… I can't…"

"Oh, fine, if none of you are going to help!" Willow snapped, yanking a strand of Seo's hair out and wrapping it around a little doll she'd dug out of her pocket, a toothpick nestled between her teeth. "Now to halt the vital part," she recited, taking out the toothpick. "Stab the flesh…" she stabbed down on the doll's chest. "…and stop the heart!"

Seo's eyes rolled up, and she drifted into unconsciousness.

Buffy and Xander both stared at Willow, dumbfounded.

"What?" asked Willow. She held out the doll and the toothpick for them to see. "If you'd taken 'Witchcraft and the World of Shakespeare' in college with me, you could have learned this stuff, too! It's not my fault you wanted to take 'Intro to Pop Culture'."

* * *

Buffy snapped her cell phone shut, in the back of the taxi cab. "He's not picking up," she said. She gritted her teeth. "Where are you, Giles?"

"You sure you don't want me to take you to the hospital?" the cab driver asked them.

"Yes!" shouted everyone in the cab.

"Buffy, she's really, really not doing well," said Willow, watching as Buffy cradled the unconscious girl in her arms. "This isn't like the poison thing. We need real medical advice on this."

"We can't," Buffy snapped, pointedly. "No doctor on Earth would be able to treat her."

"There's one _not_ on Earth," Xander replied.

"Yeah, that I've been trying for the last six years to get in touch with, and can't," said Buffy. Her mind was racing, trying to think through possibilities. But… Giles was better at this than she was. Damn it, where the hell was Giles?

Seo stirred, in Buffy's arms. Her entire face wincing in pain, as she clutched at her left heart. And then realized that the dagger was still embedded inside of it.

"Dagger… it's…" Seo said. Another sharp pain flooding her features. "My heart…"

"It's not beating," Buffy agreed. "Willow stopped it, so you wouldn't go all internal bleedingy on us. You're going to be okay."

"I'm dying," Seo said. Her eyes fixed on the dagger. Then she looked up at Buffy. Panicked. Grabbed her hand, tightly. "No! No, I can't… I can't die! I can't give up a life… for…"

Buffy felt a bitter anger inside her chest. "That's not what you said in Scotland! One life to save the world, remember?"

"But not now!" Seo cried. Desperation deep inside her eyes. "Please. Please. I can't… not now. They'll trace the energy. They'll find me. I'll never get him out. I just wanted to get him out!"

The anger fell away from Buffy, in an instant. "You'll never… what?"

"They took him away," Seo said, her voice breathy, fading in and out. "He said… nothing could get in. But they did. Took him. They wanted me… but… he told me to run, so they'd take…." Her face creased in a surge of pain, as she clutched at Buffy's hand even tighter. "Please. _Please_. I just want to save my dad. Just let me rescue him... and… and then I'll…"

Then she passed out, again.

Everyone looked at one another.

"Okay," said Xander. "Of all the reasons I could think up to build a great big universe-destroying portal… that's actually not a bad one."


	25. Chapter 25

Giles wasn't at his house. And still, no answer from his cell phone.

"Can she stop herself from regenerating?" Xander asked, leaning over Seo. "Because… if she's worried they're going to kill the Doctor the moment they find her, she might actually kill herself for good."

"I don't know!" said Buffy. "I didn't take notes or anything, when the Doctor talked about it."

Willow gave Buffy a pointed look.

"Yeah, well, _those_ notes are at the bottom of a giant crater," Buffy said. "So they're not helping anyone." She squeezed her eyes shut, and muttered something beneath her breath. Her last desperate hope.

"Buffy, what are you…?" Willow asked. Then realized. "You're contacting that Doctor Protecting Super-Entity that can't say no to you!"

Buffy didn't answer.

"Do you know how much you could screw up the universe by doing that?" Willow demanded. "You can't just play around with—"

"Did it work?" Xander cut in.

"I… don't know," Buffy confessed. She looked around. "I thought… he'd show up, by now. Just to grumble at me about how I'm always bossing him around and making wishes."

Xander looked around the room, too. Double checking, just in case any super entities had turned up while Buffy wasn't looking.

"If he's not showing up, that must mean he's already given me everything I need to get me through this," said Buffy. "I just need to think. Think really, really… really…" She stopped. Her eyes staring at her cell phone. Her fixed up cell phone. Fixed up for no apparent reason, earlier. She pressed the phone book icon, then picked a number at random. Looked at it. Spun around, to face Willow. "Do you think Seo can survive three hours, without medical help?"

"I have no idea," said Willow. "The only one who'd know that would be… well, the Doctor. And Seo."

Buffy winced. "Somehow, I think if I asked Seo, she'd be all with the freak-out." She hesitated, looking down at Seo. Then back at her cell. At the number she'd selected at random.

Luck had to be on her side. It just had to.

With every faith that the Doctor Protecting Super Entity had gotten this right, planned this all out the way it was supposed to be — and, hopefully, still couldn't say no to her — Buffy grabbed up Seo, taking Giles' car keys off the hook where he always kept them, and making her way out the door.

"Why?" asked Xander, after her. "What's 3 hours away?"

"Cardiff!" Buffy called back.

* * *

Buffy had never been completely competent behind the wheel. But dire situations called for dire actions, and she damn well tried her best.

She wasn't nearly as bad at it as she'd expected.

Nor did she get pulled over for seriously speeding — which she assumed was down to Mr. Doctor-Protecting-Super-Entity, since she was going, like, 90. But she made it to Cardiff in record time, and pulled up to Roald Dahl Plass, setting the car into park, and jumping out almost before she had a chance to turn off the engine.

She was more careful about Seo, gently maneuvering her out of the passenger side of the car. The girl looked worse, now. Way, way worse. Pale, her brow in a sweat, and Buffy wondered if maybe she _could_ stop herself from regenerating, and was doing everything in her power to stop herself, right now.

To save her dad.

"And if you save him, you get locked up, again," Buffy whispered. Because whatever reason the Doctor had for confining Seo to the TARDIS, it definitely wasn't over something that had happened when she was too young to understand.

Buffy bet it had way more to do with what that demon Alzoncren had shouted, just before he'd been destroyed. ("Death is coming, death for all, and she — _she_ is Death!")

The sudden rush of footsteps, and Buffy looked up, to find Jack racing forward across the Plass, backpack on his back, looking around for something, in earnest — as if his life depended on it.

"Jack!" she shouted.

Jack stopped. Turned. His eyes lighting up. "Buffy!" he said. "You wouldn't happened to have run into the—"

Then his eyes landed on Seo. Knife blade still in her chest. Jack's every expression melting into utter and complete shock.

"Two hearts," Buffy said. "She's still alive."

Jack nodded.

"Okay, then," he said, swinging his backpack off his shoulders. "I guess that answers that question."

* * *

"She'll be fine," Jack assured Buffy, when they were up in his office, door shut behind them. "Trust me. Owen will be griping the whole time, but he'll fix her up. Good as new."

Buffy nodded, but didn't speak. Her eyes fixed on the floor.

"Wanna tell me how it happened?" Jack asked.

"She… got sacrificed to a demon," Buffy admitted. She spun around on the swivel chair, back and forth, trying to take her mind off what was happening. But failing. "She is going to be okay, right? I mean, not like I care, because, you know, she's probably just a shape-shifting demon alien type thing, but… she's still going to be okay, right?"

Jack put a hand on her shoulder. "Buffy," he said, leaning down to look into her eyes. "She'll be fine. Promise." He gave her a wink. "Especially if she inherited any of her parents' healing abilities."

Buffy blushed. Looked away. "She's not my… or the Doctor's…" She closed her eyes, and shook her head. "I mean, she can't be, right? It's just… wishful thinking. I'm never going to see him again. I know it. You know it. He thinks I'm dead and it's better that way."

"Well," said Jack, "I can't speak for your DNA, but she's _definitely_ the Doctor's kid."

Buffy snapped her head around to stare at him.

"I've got a Doctor detector," Jack said, with a grin. "The moment she showed up, it went off."

"You've got a Doctor detector?" Buffy asked. "Since when?"

Jack gave a sheepish shrug, which meant that he was not going to answer her question.

"Then… then she's actually…" said Buffy. "I mean, she can't be… but…"

"Yes," Jack confirmed. "She's actually from your future. In the future, you and the Doctor meet up, again. He finds out you're not dead. You two have a crazy night together. And… nine months later… kid!"

Buffy felt her head spinning.

"But… but no, no, she can't really be…" Buffy shook her head, her eyes fixed off in the distance. "But she _is_. I know she is. I've always known. When she's around, I just… I don't know… _feel_ something for her. Like… she's mine. My child. I feel like… I love her." She shook her head. "And I can't explain it."

Jack nodded. "That's children for you."

"I mean, I'm scared, now," said Buffy. She looked down at her shaking hands. "Really, really scared. I've just seen a super powerful, destroy-the-world demon go completely freak-outy over her, and call her Death. The End of All. The Coming of Darkness. The Vanquisher of Life. But…" She fixed her eyes off towards the operating arena. "…I'm not scared about that. I just keep thinking, what if Seo doesn't make it? What if I lose her? What if she dies, and never comes back, and I couldn't save her?"

Just saying the words made something icy and terrible flood through Buffy's soul, and she shuddered back.

Jack caught her by the shoulders. "She's the one we rescued from Torchwood London, right?" he asked.

Buffy nodded. "But… it wasn't Elizabeth. Not… the crazy one. She's… Seo."

"Seo?" asked Jack. "Weird name."

"It's short for Seosyrae," said Buffy. "And it's not her real name. It's just what her father called her." She shrugged. "I don't know what her real name is. She won't tell me."

Jack raised his eyebrows at Buffy, as if this confirmed his suspicion about Seo being the Doctor's child.

"It's still hard to believe," said Buffy. "I mean… this is _the Doctor_ we're talking about."

Jack grinned. "Just remember… always up for a threesome!"

Buffy didn't notice he'd said anything. Just stared down at her hands, trying to take it all in. "The Doctor's child," she said. "My child. Our…" She gave a soft laugh. "No wonder Torchwood London was so interested in her."

"Don't tell me the Doctor just popped by and dropped her off to get picked up by Hartman while he left to save the universe," said Jack.

Buffy turned to Jack. "No, she… before Torchwood, she was still a prisoner. The Doctor's prisoner. She's been locked up since she was a little kid, supposedly for destroying some planet, although I'm guessing there were other reasons, too. She's lived decades inside the TARDIS without being allowed to leave it or talk to anyone else besides the Doctor. But then…" Buffy shrugged. "I don't know. Seo mentioned something about how the Doctor got kidnapped by a bunch of people looking for her, and she ran. She told me she's only here because she's trying to rescue him, but… I don't know. I don't even understand how she wound up in Torchwood One."

"Decades inside the TARDIS, without being able to talk to anyone?" Jack asked. "That… doesn't sound like the Doctor."

"I know," said Buffy. "But it gets even weirder. I mean, she's seriously naïve. She honestly had no idea that humans stayed dead, after they died. She just assumed that everyone could regenerate, even humans, and no one ever told her otherwise."

Jack frowned. "That doesn't sound like the Doctor, either."

"And she can't see herself in the mirror!" said Buffy. "Like, all the rest of us can, but she can't. Not at all. She doesn't even know what she looks like. I think…" she hesitated. "I think… Seo didn't even know I was her mom until a short time ago. She calls me Buffy. Like, she treats me like I'm her mom, but… she still calls me Buffy."

Jack absorbed this, his frown creasing.

"And… and… and it just doesn't feel like something the Doctor would do!" Buffy concluded. "None of it. She's _so_ like him, sometimes, Jack, it's scary. She's kind, and caring, and compassionate, and excited about everything she sees — especially new things, she loves those. I mean, I'll admit — she's way more aggressive than he ever gets. And a lot more emotional. I guess… those are from me. But she's definitely got the guilt-trip-central thing going full swing." She shook her head. "She's weird, Jack, and she lies a whole bunch, but… she's not evil. Not at all. So… so… so _why_? Why would the Doctor do something like that?"

"How do you know she was locked up in the TARDIS?" Jack asked.

"She… kept running into walls and expecting the rooms to rearrange themselves, when she first got here," Buffy said. "And she kept talking to the house, like it was alive. And she mentioned a few things about setting off neutron bombs in her room that wouldn't have made sense unless she was living in the TARDIS."

Jack nodded, slowly.

"And there's only one TARDIS and only one Time Lord out there," said Buffy. "It's not like it could be anyone else, right?"

"Guess not," Jack replied.

Buffy shrugged. "Maybe… maybe this is just how the Doctor acts, when there are other Time Lords around," she said. "I mean, I'm all overprotective of Dawn. Maybe the Doctor's, like, super overprotective of Time Lords, because he knows there are none left, except for him."

Jack thought it over. "Well, the only person we can ask about that is the Doctor," he said. "And if Seo says he's locked up, then my Doctor detector probably won't be very much use."

Buffy gave a worried, distracted laugh. "Doctor detector," she muttered. "Maybe that's how I wind up meeting him, again. I borrow your Doctor detector."

Jack cringed. "Actually, that probably wouldn't work," he said. "You said the Doctor didn't know you were still alive, even in his 11th regeneration. And my Detector only picks up on DNA that's from the… regeneration… before…"

Jack stopped. His entire body freezing, as his mind ran through the implications.

"Oh," he said. "I really, really should have thought of that, sooner."

"What?" asked Buffy.

Jack looked down at Buffy. "Seo can't be from your future," he said. "Because she takes after the wrong regeneration."


	26. Chapter 26

Buffy stared at Jack. "I don't…"

"She set off the Doctor detector," Jack said. "That means the DNA she got from him is from his 10th regeneration. Not the one you're looking for. Not the one you'll meet up with in your future. The one from your past. The one that thinks you're dead."

Buffy shook her head. "How?" she asked. "I mean, does the Pinstripe Doctor show up, one day, before he finds out that I've died, and get really drunk with me or something?"

Buffy had assumed this would at least get a smile, a wink, and a lascivious comment from Jack, but he just looked increasingly worried, as he continued thinking all of this through.

"And… you said she didn't know that people died," said Jack. "You said she had absolutely no idea that people stayed dead, when they died."

"Yeah."

"But she knows about planets being destroyed," Jack said. " _That_ she understands."

Buffy felt uneasy. "I… guess…"

Jack's face fell. "Oh, that's… just…" He shook his head. "A little ingenious, and a little cruel. At the same time."

"What is?" Buffy asked.

Jack gave a long sigh, crossing his arms. "I think… I know what Seo is," he admitted. "But she wasn't born — at least, not the way you're thinking. I'm pretty sure… Seo was created. In a lab."

Buffy wasn't even sure what to say to this. She wanted to retort that it couldn't be true, she was sure it wasn't true, but…

_I don't 'fix'. I don't 'repair'. I tear apart. Dismantle. Destroy. That's what I was made to do. It's my purpose._

"No," said Buffy.

"The last time you and the Doctor got together, you guys wiped out the vampires," Jack told her. "An undefeatable, ruthless race of pure evil. Now imagine someone else saw that, someone who didn't have the best interests of the universe at heart. Some aggressive, warlike race, like… the Daleks. Or the Sontarans. Or… any number of other races, out there."

Buffy's eyes went wide.

"They see that you plus Doctor equals genocide," Jack continued. "So they create…"

"A weapon," Buffy breathed. "A biological weapon. Half Doctor. Half Buffy." Her head spun. "A genocide machine."

"Any race in the universe," Jack agreed, "and Seo can wipe it out." He snapped his fingers. "Easy as that."

And like a flash, Buffy realized… Seo had been telling them. Over and over again. How she was thinking up ways to destroy the world. To kill anything and anyone she came across. Almost as if it were a puzzle she had to figure out. They'd always assumed Seo was threatening them, or trying to demonstrate that she was evil, but… what if… she wasn't? What if… that was just how her brain worked?

"Raise her so she doesn't understand that people stay dead," said Jack, "and you've got yourself a perfect killing machine. Powerful, clever, determined. All your passion and aggression, all the Doctor's cunning. Seo can think up a thousand ways to kill you — in just a second. Has the strength and agility to do it. And has absolutely no idea that it's wrong."

"But… but she _doesn't_ kill people!" Buffy protested. "I mean, sure, she talks about it a lot, just to show off, but… she never sounds like she's serious about going through with it. She doesn't…." She trailed off, as she remembered. Seo's memory. The blurry figure that had rescued her, when the world was being destroyed. "The Doctor found her."

"I'm guessing her creators put her to the test," said Jack, "and she got scared. Ran away. The Doctor found her — probably while he was saving the planet — and took her into his TARDIS. Then, he's got a dilemma. Seo's technically his daughter, so he feels protective of her. But she's also a weapon, and her creators are out looking for her. Creating Seo — that must have cost a ton of money. There have to be people the universe over looking for her."

Yes. Buffy remembered. All the alien races that wanted to find her.

"So he locks her up, and doesn't allow her to see anyone," said Jack. "Because he can't take the chance that she'll be discovered. Or accidentally destroy another world."

"Then her creators find the TARDIS," Buffy continued, "and break in. Take the Doctor prisoner. He tells Seo to run for it, so she arrives here. On Earth."

"And, knowing no one else," Jack agreed, "seeks out the one person she's sure can help her. Her biological mother."

"Me."

"You."

Buffy just let this absorb, a moment. "But… but I don't… I mean, that seems so farfetched!" she said. "It couldn't possibly…" Except it did make sense. It made a lot of sense. A lot, lot, lot of sense.

Death was coming. She'd been warned, over and over again. Death was coming, and Buffy would embrace it.

Because it was her daughter.

* * *

The man ran into the room, where the woman was speaking with her superior. "I've got a location on her," he said. "I'm positive." Displaying the proof for them to see. "Torchwood Cardiff. June 29th, 2007. She's there."

The superior sighed. "If this winds up being Melody Pond, again…"

"No, I've been more specific, since the last… unpleasantness," the man said. "I've been very clear. The weapon we are after is the Slayer's Weapon. Not the Doctor's Weapon."

"You should have done that in the first place," said the woman. "We might never have broken contract, if you had."

"But I'm certain _this_ is her!" the man said. "I know what she's been calling herself. 'Seosyrae'."

Everyone nearby stared at the man.

"I never thought she'd choose an alias that obvious," the woman muttered.

"If she calls herself Seosyrae, it has to be her," the superior said. "She must be found and—"

"There is some bad news," the man cut in. "She's with the Slayer. Buffy Summers."

Everyone fell silent.

"The Slayer will cause problems," the man told the others. "She seems attached to the girl. She will not let her go without a fight."

"Then we must persuade her," the superior said. "The Daleks will emerge from Torchwood One in two days. If the Weapon Seosyrae is not in our hands, by then, _the Daleks_ will find her. Not even Buffy Summers will protect Seosyrae if doing so means destroying the human race."

"I will make sure that she knows," the man agreed, running off to perform the task.

* * *

Tosh burst through the door into Jack's office, a little breathless. Told them they had to see something that had just come through. Buffy and Jack raced down to the Torchwood computers, to see what Tosh had picked up.

Suzie looked on, close behind.

"It's a threat," Tosh told Jack, pulling it up on the monitor. "Sent directly to us, on a frequency the aliens must have known I could decrypt."

Jack leaned over Tosh's shoulder and read it, straight-faced. Then, without a word, moved Buffy into his spot, and let her read it.

The message read:

_"If you do not apprehend the Slayer's Weapon, who calls herself Seosyrae, in two days, your world and many others like it will be destroyed. Be careful when securing her, and please wait until the correct authorities arrive."_

Buffy's heart almost stopped. As the message confirmed everything she and Jack had discussed.

"Ria said they'd been getting threats like this," she said. "At the Slayer Institution. They thought… 'the Slayer's Weapon' meant the Scythe."

But it didn't. It never had. That's what Seo had figured out, back when she was helping them save the world, in Scotland. That was why she'd refused to save the world in a way that left her trapped and helpless. Because the creatures weren't after Satsu, Rowena, or Leah.

They were looking for the Slayer's Weapon. Seo.

(And if they'd found her, if she _had_ trapped herself, then more than just the Earth would be destroyed.)

"It might not be a threat," Jack pointed out. "Could be a warning."

Buffy hadn't thought of that.

"Can we afford to take the risk?" Buffy asked. "Either way, the Earth will be destroyed in two days if we don't hand her over. If it's her life, or the Earth, I'm not choosing her."

Jack seemed surprised. "You really think—?"

"When Seo comes back in," said Buffy, "we act like we're happy to see her. Try to suggest she stays at Torchwood. If she seems hostile towards the idea, we herd her towards the cages. Lock her inside of one. The authorities will show up, and we'll hand her over to them. Save the world."

Jack just stared at Buffy, as if she'd been taken over by a parasitic mind-devouring alien.

Even Tosh seemed taken aback by Buffy's reaction. "Are you… feeling all right?" she asked.

Buffy shrugged this off. "As Jack said," she replied, "Seo isn't really even my daughter. If she's a genocide machine, the best thing to do is get rid of her. Before she kills everyone else."

"And her father?" Jack reminded her.

"Not my problem," said Buffy, spinning around on her heels, grabbing her coffee from the desk, and leaving the Hub. "He's good at getting out of prisons — he can take care of himself." She poured her cup of coffee into the base of the fountain, as she headed towards the invisible elevator. "Now, if you'll excuse me. I need some space."

Jack gave Tosh a few quick instructions, then raced after Buffy. Hopping on the elevator just as it started moving. He tried to talk to her, tried to remind her that this kind of thing wasn't what Buffy did, that she couldn't take the news that Seo wasn't really her child this hard, but Buffy ignored him. Just stared straight ahead, and said, in a cold, hard voice, "I'm the Slayer. It's what I have to do."

The moment the elevator got all the way up, the cold expression fell away from Buffy's face.

"Buffy," Jack was saying, "really, think about this. If these _aren't_ the authorities, we could be handing Seo to some malevolent race who'll use her to wipe out the universe. There are tons of people who would want a weapon like Seo." He began to step forward. "We can't just…"

"Of course we can't," Buffy said, yanking him back. "I was never intending to. All that was just for show. Now keep standing on the invisible spot, so we can talk in private."

Jack seemed visibly relieved. "You mean you were never planning to…?"

"They knew her name, this time, Jack," Buffy pointed out. "I mean… you know. The… Seosyrae name. They didn't know that, before, or they'd have used it in the messages they sent to Ria."

Jack understood immediately. "They're hacking Torchwood," he said. "Everything we just said about Seo's being a weapon — they heard it. The story matched what they knew, the image of Seo on our monitors matched the data they had, and they put two and two together."

"So, this way, they think I'm cool with their plan," said Buffy. "But I'm not. I've got my own plan."

"Can't wait to hear it."

"Whoever created Seo is going to be after her forever," Buffy explained. "She's super dangerous, and, like you said, she probably cost a butt-load of money. But we can't defeat her creators while they're still vague threats. We need them to show up and get her."

"It's a trap," Jack realized.

"Yeah," said Buffy. "We get Seo locked away. Make them think we're cooperating. Put the hub on lockdown and set up some hidden video camera things that will still work without power, just so they'll know we're cooperating. They show up, outside, to collect her. In here, we get ready, gear up. Figure out what we're dealing with. Then, moment we override the lockdown, we run out and kick their butts." She crossed her arms. "What do you think?"

Jack grinned. "Like it."

* * *

As Buffy had thought, the 'authorities' didn't show up to collect Seo for quite some time. Probably, Buffy figured, they were waiting until Seo was fully healed, up to full power, and safely locked away.

(She could still remember the fear in that demon's eyes when it had seen Seo.)

It was a few hours before Seo emerged.

"Next time," Owen grumbled, "when you make me do surgery on an alien with unknown anatomy, don't do it after a weevil's knocked out all our equipment."

"I'm not an alien," Seo insisted. "I'm from Earth. Really."

Buffy swept her up into a tight hug. Her breath catching in sudden, complete relief — a relief far greater than she'd expected to feel.

"You're all right," she breathed.

"Of course I am," Seo exclaimed, with a large grin. She pulled out of the hug. "I told you. I'm your prisoner. You're the only one who gets to kill me."

Everyone at Torchwood shot Buffy weird looks. Buffy decided there was no point in having a child as weird as Seo hanging around, if she was going to get embarrassed all the time. Better just… own it. Own the weirdness, and the destruction, and the fact that Buffy's life so revolved around death that her own daughter embodied it.

"How was the surgery?" Jack asked.

"Other than working completely broken-machinery blind, it went fine," said Owen. "Until I told her where she was. That caused more breaking of machinery, right there. I almost had to sedate her."

Yep. Buffy had expected that. After Seo's last encounter with Torchwood, she was bound to be pretty upset about returning.

"She calmed down?" Buffy asked.

"When I told her she was in Cardiff, yes," said Owen. "She snapped right out of it. Started bouncing around like she'd never been bloody stabbed at all."

Seo's eyes went wide, as she noticed her surroundings. A delighted grin on her face, she raced out into the middle of the Hub, spinning around to take it all in.

"It's beautiful!" she cried. She raced around, examining everything with curious eyes, peering and chattering on and on, whatever craziness she could think up about any given object. Without caring if anyone was paying her any attention.

Tosh and Owen seemed a little dumbstruck.

Jack and Buffy caught each others' eyes.

"Told you," said Buffy. "Sometimes, she's just like him."

Jack gave a half shrug. "Maybe not so much the him I know," he said. Then, noticing what Seo was doing, he gave a little shake of his head. "Well, that's not so good."

Buffy looked over at Seo — who had stopped right in front of the rift manipulator. Staring at it, as if it held the answers to all her problems.

"Oh, no," Buffy sighed.

"Gorgeous, huh?" Jack was already telling Seo, his hands around her shoulders, leading her away from it. "But probably not a great thing to mess around with."

"But I want to know how it works," Seo complained, still looking back over her shoulder at it. Then she spun around to face Jack, hope in her eyes. "It's a machine! A machine to manipulate the rift!"

"Yes, it's a rift manipulator," Tosh confirmed. "And the maths behind it are very technical, so you wouldn't understand…"

"Of course I'll understand!" said Seo, spinning around and bouncing over to Tosh, her face lit up in a delighted grin. "I understand everything! Especially this kind of everything. Rifts! I love rifts. And you use a machine to manipulate this rift! It's brilliant." The grin faltered, for a moment, as the equations popped up on the screen. "But… clunky. Looks like."

"What do you mean, clunky?" Tosh protested. "This is state of the art. Far more advanced than anything anyone else could come up with."

Seo didn't answer. Just stared at the screen, her eyes searching through the equations, her lips in a pensive half-smile, thinking it over furiously.

"Tell you what," said Jack, with a sidelong glance at Buffy. "Stay at Torchwood a little longer, and you can help Tosh improve the rift manipulator. What do you say?"

Seo's smile dropped, completely. She turned, her eyes fixed on Jack. When she spoke, her voice was low. Edgy.

"You… want me to stay," she clarified. "At Torchwood."

"Just for a little while," Buffy put in. "To help out. And make sure you're okay, medically."

Seo's eyes snapped over to Buffy, a look of complete and utter betrayal inside of them.

"We should run some scans," Suzie put in. "Using our machinery. Make sure you're all right. Right, Owen?"

Owen grumbled beneath his breath.

Suzie gave him a pointed look, then kicked him in the leg.

Owen stumbled, and caught himself. "I mean, yeah. Yeah. Scans. Scans are crucial," he confirmed. Then, with a grumble, "If we can get the bloody equipment back online."

Seo stumbled back, leaping to her feet. "You're… making me stay," she said, backing away from them, her breath coming a little more rapidly. "So you can strap me to machines."

"It's for your own safety," Buffy said. "Torchwood has a ton of super powerful medical equipment, and I want to make sure—"

"Machines," Seo said, stumbling backwards, a little faster. "More machines. More and more and more. Just like last time. It starts with one machine, and then… they never stop. Never want to let me go."

"We'll let you go after a few days," Jack assured her. "I know what it's like, being strapped to unpleasant Torchwood machines. You don't have to worry — all our machines are a hundred percent patient friendly! Just sit tight, and wait until we can deal with—"

Seo's eyes went wide. Her mouth dropped. "You… you know," she breathed, her voice shaking. "You know what I am. That's why you want me to stay. Because you know!"

"Seo, I've got no idea—" Jack started.

But Seo had already turned, and fled.

Jack nodded over to Tosh, who secured the Hub into lockdown. The clang of locks sealing them inside rang through the air.

Buffy's eyes narrowed, as she grabbed a gun from Jack and slung it over her shoulder. Then nodded to Owen and Suzie. "Let's get her."

They ran.

Chased Seo through a darkened hub, circling her in on all sides. She was clever, Seo, but Buffy and the others had been doing this for way too long to screw it up. In the end, experience beat out raw talent. Because, in the end, they managed to corner her in the vaults. Seo stumbled back, and with a shove from Buffy, was flipped inside one of the Torchwood cells.

Jack banged the door shut, before she could escape.

Seo looked around at the cell she was in. Then at Buffy. Her entire body shaking, as she realized that she was trapped. As she realized that she was stuck in that cell until her creators arrived to pick her up.

"No," she breathed.

"You're right," said Buffy, coldly. "We worked out what you are. And we don't want anything to do with you. So you're staying here until we can turn you over to the authorities."

Seo stepped forwards. "I… trusted you," she said, her eyes filling with the hints of tears. "I trusted…" Her hands shook, as she touched the transparent reinforced-super-plastic front of the cell. And the full implications of her imprisonment seemed to dawn on her, all at once.

"No," she said. Then slammed her hands against the plastic. "No!" she screamed, hammering against the door. Her voice so desperate, it broke Buffy's heart. "Let me go! Let me go!"

It was everything Buffy could do to keep her exterior mask of iciness intact.

"They already know you're here," said Buffy. "You're not going anywhere. Again. Ever."

"Stop it!" Seo screamed. Hammering even harder, using Slayer strength, now, pounding fists against the plastic. "I can't…. Get me out! Get me out! Get me OUT!"

The last word slammed against Buffy like a tidal wave. Ripped through her mind. Seared across her senses, like a blazing silver light, and she felt herself growing suddenly dizzy, suddenly tired. Felt herself dropping through the air… as she lost all sensation whatsoever.


	27. Chapter 27

"Buffy," came Jack's voice.

Buffy groaned back into consciousness, her hand against her still throbbing head. "If we weren't at the greatest, most demon-free party ever, last night, I'm going to be mega pissed," she said, as she sat up. Then seemed to process where she was.

The Torchwood 3 vaults. Just outside the cell they'd locked Seo into.

Except… there was a hole in the front side of the cell, now. The front peeled away in a series of strips, forming an exit large enough for someone to walk through. And Seo was gone.

Buffy looked back at Jack. "How… who…?"

"No idea," he said, helping Buffy up to her feet. "Better check in with Tosh. She'll probably have the answer by…"

He was cut off by a series of very loud cussing from Owen, not far away.

Buffy and Jack ran towards Owen, but stopped the moment they saw it. The moment they saw… the locked-down door leading out of the hub. The great big, unmoveable steel circular door, proof tested against the most powerful aliens they could imagine.

It had been ripped off its hinges, bent in half, and thrown onto the floor.

"Okay," said Buffy. "I'm thinking… whoever created Seo came when we were knocked out. And they're a lot meaner and nastier than I thought."

Jack opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by Tosh, who was running towards them, shouting, "Jack you have to see…"

She stopped. Stared at the door, open-mouthed.

Suzie came rushing up behind her, eyes on the removed door. "Well, that's one way to get around the lock-down," she muttered.

"Have to see what?" Jack asked Tosh, spinning around. "Did those backup cameras get video footage of what happened when we were knocked out?"

Tosh started out of her shock, unable to utter a sound for a few moments. Then… "Yes. I mean, no! I mean… that's what I was trying to tell you."

Jack sighed, as he and the others marched towards the hub computers. "Don't tell me the video feed cut out with the silver flash."

"It didn't," Tosh confirmed. "It's just… that girl. The one Buffy brought in."

"Seo," said Jack.

"She isn't there!" said Tosh.

Buffy frowned. Looked over at Tosh. "What do you mean, isn't there?"

By that time, they'd already arrived back in the Hub, and Jack sat down by the computers, flipping through surveillance footage. "I don't see her…"

"That's what I mean!" said Tosh. She sat down at the computer, and grabbed the mouse out of Jack's hands, calling up the footage she wanted. Then played it for them. "See? This is when it happened."

On the footage, Buffy could see herself standing, gun in hand, her eyes cruel and cold, as Jack slammed the cell door shut.

The door… to the completely empty cell.

"What the hell?" Buffy said, squinting at the screen. Trying to think it through in her mind. "She's… edited the footage, or…"

"No, she's there!" Tosh exclaimed, pointing at the screen. "Listen!"

From inside the cell, on the footage, they could hear Seo's voice, saying, "I trusted you. I trusted…"

Then there was a slam of hand hitting plastic, and the cell wall shook under the impact of… nothing.

"No!" screamed Seo's voice. "No! Let me go! Let me go!"

Jack scrutinized the footage, closely. "Seo… doesn't show up on video tape," he said.

"She doesn't show up on anything," Tosh informed them. "Owen double-checked the med lab equipment. It was working fine. But when he was operating on her… nothing. No readings whatsoever."

And, with a sudden horror, Buffy realized that… when Jack had first learned about Seo, Hartman had sent him a picture. Not a photo. But an artist's drawing.

Because Seo didn't show up in photos, either.

On screen, the hammering had grown harder and harder. The shaking of the cell wall, caused, seemingly, by nothing, growing worse and worse. "Get me out!" came the panicked scream of Seo's voice. "Get me out! Get me OUT!"

And then, without any rhyme or reason, Buffy and every Torchwood employee near Seo on the recording dropped to the floor, unconscious.

For a few moments, there was complete silence.

"No," said Seo's voice, shaking a little. "No, no, no, no, no."

A bang of a punch, and the plastic buckled as if it had been nearly punched through. Another punch, and the plastic gave way, breaking a hole at the end, the edges being peeled away like a banana.

"Oh, my god," said Buffy, outside the recording. "She's… she's…"

"A lot stronger than you are," said Jack. He glanced back at Buffy. "Let me guess. She never mentioned that."

"I've been tugging her along and pushing her around," Buffy said. "And she's been _letting_ me. This whole time, she could have knocked me aside like I was nothing!"

On the screen, Buffy's arm raised, as if of its own accord. A relieved sigh — Seo. Then Jack's, and the others. Another relieved sigh.

"Checking the pulse point in the wrist," Jack guessed.

Then the sounds of gentle slaps, the impact soft against the unconscious Buffy's cheeks.

"Wake up," Seo pleaded. "Please wake up. Please, please, wake…"

A loud bang, from just off camera. The slapping sound stopped. Followed by complete and utter silence. Then a sudden stampede of footsteps, rushing off.

Tosh switched to another camera, where they could see the locked-down door to the Hub yanked off its hinges, bent in half and tossed aside, the footsteps pattering out of the hub, silent save for the panicked rasp of breath.

"She's terrified," Buffy realized. "She must have been scared to death."

She remembered that so vividly, in Seo's memories. The fear of watching terrible things happen, all around her, being the cause of them, and not understanding any of it, at all.

Seo wasn't Buffy or the Doctor. The things both of them faced, on a regular basis — Seo had never faced before. Everything was new, everything was interesting.

And everything was terrifying.

"Looks like she got chased," said Jack. "By whoever wanted to pick her up, at a guess. Although I have no idea how they got into the Hub when it was locked down." He pointed at the monitors, which displayed how, one by one, the cameras flickered into static. Then back into action, once the creature had passed.

"Chased by someone who can appear anywhere, and doesn't want to be seen," Buffy said. She stood up. "Okay. Seo's scared, she's desperate, she's got absolutely no idea what she's doing, and she's being chased by something pretty nasty. I'm going out to look for her."

"She's long gone," said Tosh. "This footage was taken three and a half hours ago."

Buffy froze. "What?"

"We've been out for three and a half hours?" Jack asked.

"Not just us," said Tosh. "Whatever that silver flash was, it affected everyone inside and outside the Hub. The entire Plass got knocked out." She flicked over to the footage of the Plass, showing unconscious people, all across the sidewalks.

Buffy stared.

"You know, I'm starting to think," said Jack, "that the only damage caused by Seo's creators was the static in our surveillance cameras. Other than that…"

"It's all Seo," Owen confirmed. "All that bloody Seo kid. Didn't show up on a single machine. Not unless she physically pressed the buttons herself. No scans, no readings, no nothing. Like she didn't exist."

No scans. No readings.

"Like… that Sphere she kept mentioning!" Buffy said. She wracked her brain for details, but she really couldn't remember a whole lot. "There was this… Sphere. She found. It gave off no readings. Like it didn't exist. She seemed… really obsessed with that."

"So they're related," Suzie guessed. "Seo and the Sphere."

"If they are, I don't think Seo knows how," said Buffy. "I don't think she ever figured out what it was or how it worked."

"Where is this Sphere, now?" Jack asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine," said Buffy, with a shrug. "Seo implied that Torchwood London was looking for it. But I don't think they ever found it."

Suzie peered at the footage of the ripped-off Hub door. "Why's she so strong, anyways?" she demanded of the others. "I know you're her mother, and you're strong, but — she punched through things made to withstand the impact from a crashing space ship. She ripped that door off its hinges like it was nothing."

"And she punched right through the front of that cell," added Tosh. "Not even a weevil can do that."

Buffy wasn't sure what to say.

"Tosh is right — I don't understand how it's physically possible," Jack put in. "Muscles bigger on the inside notwithstanding… she's punched through things that no one, alien or not, should be able to punch through."

"Well, she never did that befo…" Buffy stopped. Remembered. "Sontaran battle armor. She punched through Sontaran battle armor. From the front. It was cracked!"

Jack stared at Buffy, a little incredulous. "Now… that I would have liked to see."

"She took down a Sontaran from the front?" said Suzie. "I thought you could only take those down from the back."

"But the only person I've ever seen punch like that is Glory," Buffy said. She shook her head. "And Seo may be many things, but she's not an insane Hell Goddess. Not even close."

For a second, there was silence.

"Except… she _did_ seem really interested in Dawn," Buffy added, in a small voice.

"I, personally, thought she was far too interested in the rift manipulator," Tosh put in.

"Yeah, that's not a coincidence," said Buffy, her brow furrowed. "She's interested in manipulating inter-dimensional and temporal portals. That means… wherever her dad's been taken, it's probably extra dimensional."

"If she's even trying to rescue him," Jack added.

Buffy felt her headache getting even worse. Who knew what was real anymore? Who knew if they could trust what Seo was telling them, or who she really was, or what…?

But… no. No, Buffy knew who she was.

She was the person who'd given up her own life force energy to give Xander back his eye. Even if that meant giving her creators enough information about where she was hiding that they could track her down.

That wasn't a lie.

"Where'd Seo go, after she left the Hub?" Buffy asked Tosh.

Tosh gave Buffy a pointed look. "You want to check the CCTV footage around Cardiff, go ahead," she said, offering the computer to Buffy. "She doesn't show up on camera, so you won't find anything. Wherever she is, there's nothing that can trace her."

Damn. No wonder Torchwood London hadn't wanted to put in the effort.

"Well, maybe… she went back to London!" said Buffy. "Took a car. If she's actually my kid, she's probably the world's worst driver ever. We can check the accident reports."

So they did.

And found nothing.

"Maybe there's a recessive 'good driving' gene in your DNA," Tosh proposed. "Or… she took the train."

"Or she's still in Cardiff," Suzie said.

That didn't help.

"Any way you want to look at it, she's disappeared," said Jack. "Vanished without a trace. Could be in London, could still be in Cardiff. Either way, she thinks we've betrayed her. So there's no chance she'll find us, again. And no chance we'll find her again." He turned to Buffy. "Face it, Buffy. She's gone."

Buffy shook her head, feeling a sinking misery in her heart. Then froze.

As she realized.

She knew _exactly_ where Seo was.

* * *

Xander had been in his hotel room, watching TV, that night, when he'd heard the knock on the door. Flicking off the TV, and tossing the remote onto the couch, he opened the hotel room door.

To find Seo, standing there. Alone and clearly terrified.

"Help me," she pleaded.

So here she was, now. Seo. Buffy's daughter. Inside of his hotel room. And Xander was trying very hard not to think about the fact that she was also this absolutely gorgeous girl who had kissed him only a few days ago.

She clutched at a mug of hot chocolate with shaking hands, as she huddled on the couch. And refused to answer Xander's questions. About why she was here. Why she was alone. Where Buffy was. And what had happened.

"I could always call Buffy's cell," Xander reminded her, picking up the hotel room phone. "Find out where she is, that way."

"No!" said Seo, nearly dropping her hot chocolate.

Xander put down the phone. "So. Why no Buffy?"

Seo looked down at her mug. "She… tried to lock me up. At Torchwood. Turn me over to… some… people."

Xander frowned. That didn't sound like Buffy. Not at all. "Turn you over to what people?"

Seo wouldn't say.

But it was pretty obvious to Xander that whatever had happened at Torchwood had terrified her. That she felt betrayed and alone, and didn't know who she could trust or who she could turn to. That right now wasn't the greatest time for an interrogation.

So he didn't offer her any.

Just tried to offer her as much comfort as he could, tried to distract her, keep her occupied and her mind on other things. Turned on the TV, played some cheesy sci-fi movie, and kept asking Seo if any of the special effects were actually possible.

It made her a little calmer. She leaned against his side, her head on his shoulder, her eyes fixed on the TV. And Xander wasn't about to complain about _that_.

She'd only been there for thirty minutes, before Xander's cell rang.

He disentangled himself from Seo, then ducked into the bathroom, flicking on the fan so that she wouldn't overhear. It was Buffy calling, of course. Had to be.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Xander!" said Buffy. She sounded slightly panicked. "Is Seo with you? Have you seen her?"

"Yeah, she's here," Xander said, in a very low voice. "But… she's pretty scared. What happened?"

"Just tell her that…" Buffy trailed off, as a voice in the background reminded her about something having to do with 'the ease of hacking mobile calls'. Buffy swore. "Okay, just keep her there. They probably won't show up until we get her secured. I think they're afraid of her."

Xander frowned. "Wait, you mean… there really _is_ one specific group she's running away from?"

"Seo isn't actually my daughter from the future; she's a biologically engineered super-weapon combining my DNA with the Doctor's," said Buffy. "She's designed to destroy planets and wipe out entire species."

Xander thought he wasn't hearing correctly. "Wait, what?!"

"It's complicated," said Buffy. "Just keep her there, keep her occupied, and make sure she doesn't destroy the human race while we're not looking. Okay?"

No. No, Xander didn't think it was okay at all. To just say something like, 'the girl you're with is actually some Armageddon machine' and then hang up wasn't exactly fair.

"But… but what do I… I mean, how could she possibly…?" Xander tried to organize his thoughts. "She seems harmless!"

"She's not," said Buffy. "We're leaving, now. We'll be there in about three hours. Okay? Just stick with her, so we can find you guys."

"But Buffy, I don't get…" Xander started.

But Buffy had already hung up.

Xander left the bathroom, and returned to Seo. Her eyes never left the TV, as she snuggled back into his side, again.

She never asked him who'd called. Or what they'd said.

And he never told her.

* * *

After the movie ended, Xander had only been asleep for about forty-five minutes, dozing on the couch, when he woke, suddenly. He sat up, looking around, expecting to find Seo asleep on the bed.

Except she wasn't.

Xander got off the couch, and discovered Seo crouched on the floor beside the bed, tears in her eyes. A large amount of electronics spread across the floor in front of her, and a cobbled together device in the center. A device that bleeped once, then cut out.

She hit the device.

"Work!" she snapped at it. "Why won't you work? Just work!"

Xander hesitated. Then, gently, called out, "Seo?"

She didn't turn around. Didn't face him. Just leaned over, her head against the ground, and burst out crying.

Xander rushed over, put his arms around her shoulders. "Come on," he coaxed. "Whatever this is about, I know it seems important. But it's not the end of the…" He stopped. As he remembered what Buffy had said. What Seo was. And realized… actually… if any of that was true… then whatever she was crying about could actually be the end of the world.

Seo looked up at him, then threw her arms around him and cried into his shoulder.

"It won't work," she said, through tears. "I can't make it work. They've got him, and they're never going to let him go. Not until they get me. I'm the only one that can save him, and I can't… I can't…" Her sobs became even louder.

"Your… dad," Xander clarified.

"But it's not fair!" Seo cried, pulling away from Xander. "It's not fair! If I succeed, if I rescue him, I get trapped, again. Imprisoned back at home. Never allowed to see the outside world. I'll have to give up everything here. Everyone here. I don't want to go back, Xander! I can't go back! I can't live like that again! But if I don't…"

"Your dad will be imprisoned forever, instead," Xander realized.

Seo didn't answer. Her face twisted into bitter pain.

"So… why save him?" Xander asked. "He imprisoned you. Isolated you. Why don't you just stay here, and forget about him?"

The way a biologically engineered super-weapon designed to slaughter entire species should do.

Seo looked at Xander like he was insane. "Because he's my _dad_ ," she said.

Xander didn't know what to say to this.

"I shouldn't have run," said Seo. "I should have stayed. They only wanted me. Not him. They'd have taken me, and… and…" A shudder ran through her entire body, almost subconsciously.

Xander saw his advantage. And took it.

"What happened?" he asked her.

"They came," said Seo. "I don't know who. But Dad said they'd been looking for me for a long time. He told me to run. I ran. Escaped into the outside world. Wound up in Cardiff, in the distant future — centuries from now. Right when the rift was about to collapse. Turn the whole city into a giant crater. I knew it was my last chance. So… I went up to the Cardiff rift…" She swallowed, hard. "…and jumped."

Xander stared at her. He'd seen what happened to people who jumped into gigantic rift portal things. "You jumped into the Cardiff rift?"

"I tried to!" said Seo. "I needed to go back to Sunnydale, at exactly the right moment. I knew Sunnydale had a Hellmouth. I thought… if I jumped into the Cardiff rift… I could come out in Sunnydale. When I wanted."

"So… you jumped," said Xander.

"But the rift was collapsing, as I did," said Seo. "So I didn't jump _into_ it. I jumped… _through_ it. Straight through to the other side, and out of the universe." She hesitated, her eyes filled with the horror and terror of that memory. "And I wound up… nowhere."

Xander frowned. "Nowhere?"

"It was… nothing," Seo said. "Nowhere. No light, no dark, no sound. No up, no down. No air. No place. Nothing. Nothing at all." She shivered. "It was horrible. Terrible. I thought… I'd go mad. But then… I found the Sphere."

"The Sphere," Xander repeated. He'd heard her mention a Sphere before.

"It was something in the nothing," said Seo. "The Sphere… I don't know what it was, or where it came from, but… it was real. Just… hanging there, in the nothing. I clung to it. My life preserver. Something I used to ground myself to reality, survive in there. Pushed it towards the faint flickers of light I could see, in the distance." She shrugged. "And then, I must have… passed out. Because next thing I knew, I was at Torchwood. Locked up."

"And you told them you were Buffy," Xander said. "So that Buffy would find out you were there. And come and rescue you."

Seo looked down, her cheeks flushed. "Buffy Anne Summers," she said. "Born January 11, 1981. Moved to Sunnydale, then Cleveland, then London. The Slayer. Defender of humanity. Protector of the world." She looked up at Xander. "My mommy."

It was the first time, Xander realized, that Seo had ever admitted it herself.

"I spent most of my life not knowing that," Seo said. "I worked out who my father was pretty quickly. That's not hard, when you have two hearts and a respiratory bypass system and orange blood. But I didn't know… my mother… was…" She bit her lip, to keep it from shaking.

"You can't see what you look like," said Xander. "In the mirror. And no one ever told you."

"No one ever told me anything!" Seo shouted. She grabbed Xander by the shoulders, looked deep into his eyes. Fear on her face. "What am I? What's happening to me? What am I doing? How can I stop?!"

"I… I… Buffy said you're a weapon," Xander confessed. "A weapon that could kill—"

"I know that!" Seo said. "I know what I _could_ do. I know what I was born to do. What it means. What everyone who comes here, looking for me, expects me to be able to do. But I don't want to do it! Any of it!" She shook him. "So what am I, really? I'm Death, but I don't want to kill! The Destroyer of All, and don't want to destroy anything! The Vanquisher of Life, who just wants other people to survive. If I'm not a weapon, then… who am I? What do I have left? What does that make me?"

Xander had to admit, he honestly had no idea. This was way out of his area of expertise. "You're just… Seo," he tried. "Who can't hypnotize squirrels. And loves chocolate. And is able to seriously tick Buffy off, with just a few words. And wants to save her dad, even when it'll mean giving up everything. That's… that's you."

Seo stared at him, as if she couldn't believe he'd say something as sweet as that. Then grabbed him up into a tight hug.

"You know, the person you should really be talking to about all this stuff is Dawn," said Xander, hugging her back. "She knows all about massive existential crises."

"I guess," said Seo, not letting go of the embrace. "But she's…" Then she froze. Her entire body going tense. Her breath catching in her throat.

When she spoke, again, it was a whisper.

"Xander," she said. "I just made a really, _really_ big mistake."

Xander pulled out of the embrace, to find she was looking past his shoulder. Staring with a kind of horror in her eyes.

"I told you the truth," she said. "The truth about myself. And now… they've found me."


	28. Chapter 28

Xander jumped to his feet, and spun around. To find… a ghost, behind him. No, not one ghost. Three ghosts. Just the way they always looked, during ghost shift.

"Seo," he said, with a laugh, as she frantically collected the electronic equipment up off the floor and stuffed it into her pockets. "Those are just ghosts. From the ghost shifts."

"It's midnight," said Seo, getting to her feet. She grabbed Xander by the arm, pulling him away from them. "There isn't a ghost shift."

Xander frowned. Realizing that… actually… that was a really good point.

The ghosts extended an arm towards Seo and Xander.

"Run!" Seo shouted, yanking him after her, as a flash of a high-energy beam shot out of the ghosts' hands.

Seo and Xander flew out of the hotel room, down the stairs, through the lobby, and out the front door. Their feet smacking against the pavement with every step.

"But… but they…" Xander said, glancing back over his shoulder. "I… didn't know the ghosts could do that!"

"They're not ghosts!" Seo shouted. "That's just a disguise. I keep telling you! Every single ghost shift, there are always three ghosts that aren't really ghosts! Three ghosts that are wandering around the world, looking for _me_!"

Another shot of the energy weapon, and Seo grabbed Xander so that they darted out of the way in time.

"I can't believe I was that thick!" said Seo. "I should never have told you the truth. That's how they found me!"

"They… they bugged the hotel?" Xander asked.

"They don't need to — they can read minds!" Seo told him, as they swung around a corner, panting for breath.

Xander stared at her. Dumbfounded. "They can _read your mind?!_ " he cried.

"Not _my_ mind," Seo said. "They can't read my mind. They're reading _yours_. All of yours! Don't you get it? That's why I couldn't tell you who or what I was! Because _you're_ the ones spying on me, and you never knew!"

Xander's jaw dropped, and he stumbled. Seo caught him, dragged him along after her, just dodging another blast of the energy weapon.

"Buffy must have worked it out," Seo said. "I knew they had my real name, but I didn't know that they'd worked out about 'Seo'. That must have come from Buffy."

"But… but… you traveled through time to hide here," said Xander. "You could have been anywhere, anywhen…"

"I know; they must have traced the energy!" said Seo. "When I gave you back your eye. I must have triggered something, released something they could trace. Something they knew about. Something Dad never told me about. Something they could use to ballpark where and when I was." She cursed under her breath. "Dad told me not to regenerate. He _said_."

"Huh?" asked Xander. Feeling seriously lost. "Who are these people after you? What do they—?"

"I don't know!" said Seo. "I don't know _anything_! Don't you understand? I've _never_ known anything! I don't even have a plan. I've been improvising since I got here! I was aiming for Sunnydale on May 22, 2001, but I missed the date!"

"You wanted…" Xander's eyes went wide, as he recognized the date. The date on which Buffy had jumped, saved Dawn's life, and died. "So… you _were_ here to create a gigantic universe-destroying portal!"

"Yes!" said Seo. "Of course I was! Dad's trapped in another dimension. I don't know how to get to that dimension without jumping into a portal like that!"

"You'd have ripped apart the universe!"

"Not if I _stabilized_ it, first!" Seo retorted.

Xander was shocked. "And… and you just know how to do that?" he said. "Even though not even the Doctor, Time Lord genius, knew how to—"

"Yes, I do," said Seo, through her teeth. She tugged him a little faster, glancing over her shoulder at the pursuing 'ghosts'. She cringed. "Why can't people just leave me alone? I don't want to fight their wars for them. I don't want to kill anyone. I just want to save my dad. That's all." She gritted her teeth. "And now… I've dragged you into this, too."

"Yeah, well, I'm drag-in-able," Xander said, with a grin. "Just your hanging out, all-purpose helper guy. That's me!"

"No, you don't understand," said Seo. "They can't see me! They're not chasing me, they're chasing _you_! They know I'm with you."

"What?" said Xander. He tried to get this through his head. "They can't see…?"

"They'll kill you so they can make sure I'm dead!" said Seo. "Even if I leave you behind, they'd kill you just in case I was still there and you were trying to mislead them." She looked away. "I just wanted someone with me! Someone I could talk to! Someone I could trust! I never wanted…" She took a shaky breath. "And now you're going to die, and there's nothing I can do without hurting you, and… and… it's all my fault!"

But Xander was already thinking overtime. They couldn't see her. Were following him. He was going to die, anyways, so there was nothing he could do about that. But he could still save _her_.

"Keep going," Xander said, extracting his hand from hers. He turned, and started running in the other direction. "I'm going to lead them off."

Seo grabbed him by the hand and pulled him back, just before he escaped her. Pulled him back _very_ hard. "What are you doing? They'll kill you!"

"They'll do that anyways," Xander said. "This way, they won't kill _you_ , too."

Seo squeezed her eyes shut, as the ghosts turned the corner. Drifted towards the two now still people, in the middle of the street. Their ghostly hands outstretched, pointing towards Xander.

"So brave," she said. "Brave and able to see everything. Able to see me. How do you do it?"

Xander gave a shrug and a grin.

"I'm sorry about this," said Seo.

Then, with a tremendous force, she knocked him across the head, so he collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

The ghosts dropped their arms, as Xander's brain waves drifted into concussion. As the thoughts became muddled and hard to follow.

Seo gave Xander one last lingering look. Then shut her eyes. Turned.

And ran.

* * *

"That's her!" Buffy shouted.

Jack screeched the car to a stop, and he and Buffy jumped out, sprinting towards Seo. Seo, noticing them, began to run even faster, her breath coming in frantic pants, her cheeks flushed with exertion, her form zipping through the night almost too fast to process.

But Buffy was a Slayer.

She threw herself at the girl, and managed to tackle her to the ground. Seo thrashed and struggled, but… Buffy could feel, now. Feel that there was a lot more strength in that body than she was using. That Seo could throw Buffy off of her without a second thought.

The struggling and thrashing she did now was just… who even knew? A desperate plea for Buffy to understand, make the right choice, let her go voluntarily?

(Or… was Seo _afraid_ of her actual strength? Was she afraid to use it?)

"Seo, stop!" Buffy said. "I wasn't going to hand you over! It was a trick! A trap."

Seo didn't look like she believed them.

Jack caught up with them, helped Buffy to restrain Seo. "Whoever's after you has hacked Torchwood," he said. "They're using it to trace you. We were trying to use that to our advantage, and set up an ambush."

"They're not using Torchwood!" said Seo. "They're using _you_! They can read your minds! They only know where to find me because you do!"

Buffy and Jack looked at each other. Not sure what to say, or do.

"Please," said Seo. "You can't fight them. You can't defeat them. Just let me go. Let me run and hide. It's all I have left."

In the distance, three ghost-looking figures appeared. Their eyes all directed at the group pinning Seo to the ground.

"What the…?" said Jack. He leveled his gun and fired a shot at them, but the bullet passed right through their bodies.

"I can't just let you run!" Buffy told Seo. To hell with plans. If they could read her mind, they'd know anything she was planning, anyways. "Seo, don't you get it? They sent us an ultimatum. It's either you, or the world. You can't run, anymore. We have to fight!"

Seo stopped struggling. "Me, or… the…?" Her eyes fixed into the distance, at the three ghostly figures waiting for her. "Then… then that's it. That's the end."

Buffy opened her mouth to retort to this, but her breath was taken away by Seo's wide, sad eyes, turning to her. Looking at her as if looking inside her soul.

"There are so many things I wanted to say," she said. "So many things I wanted to do. I thought I'd have thirteen lives, and now… I won't even have a full one."

Buffy stared at Seo. "I don't—"

"Just… listen!" Seo interrupted. "I didn't get to say it to Dad, and now… I'm never going to see him again. But I can say it to you."

"Say—?"

"Thank you," said Seo. "Thank you for saving my life. And…" She swallowed, then yanked herself free from their clutches with ease, and threw her arms around Buffy. "I love you, Mom."

Buffy was still trying to process everything that was going on. "Seo, you're not going to—"

Seo pulled out of the hug. "Save my dad," she said. "After I'm gone. Please."

"But—"

But Buffy didn't have time to finish, before she found herself thrown, hard, against the sidewalk, her head spinning and her body feeling like it just didn't want to move.

Jack was hurled beside her, a second later, swearing. "That hurt!"

Buffy bit back the pain, and flipped onto her feet, in time to see Seo, standing in front of the ghosts, her arms extended.

"I'm here," she said. She squeezed her eyes shut, tight as she could, and held her breath. "Just make it quick."

"Seo, stop!" Buffy raced towards her, but the energy beam impacted before she'd cleared even half the distance.

Seo's body was illuminated in a soft white light, for a single second, before she collapsed to the ground. Unmoving.

"You killed her!" Jack shouted at the ghosts. "She never even wanted to be a weapon, and you killed her for it!"

Buffy scooped up the body into her arms. Unable to digest what had just happened. Unable to take it all in. Unwilling to accept it. If she looked hard enough, maybe she'd see Seo breathing. Maybe she'd feel a pulse. Maybe…

No, wait.

Seo _was_ breathing.

"She's still alive!" Buffy called. "She's…"

That was when something zapped through her. Something that seemed to shift everything inside of her around in a knot, and then back again.

And then she was gone. Vanished from London, along with Seo and the three ghosts.

* * *

Xander rubbed his head, wincing every time he hit the bump where Seo had knocked him out.

"You know," he said, "I could say I can't believe she did that. Except I'd be lying. Because that whole forcing-me-out-of-any-kind-of-danger thing is _exactly_ what Buffy always does." He paused. "Except Buffy probably wouldn't have hit me. As hard. Usually."

"Shouldn't you get that concussion looked at?" Willow asked him.

"I will," Xander told her. "As soon as Buffy gets back. Or…" Feeling the world swimming. "…okay… maybe before then." He got the world the right way round, again. "Any word from Giles?"

Willow shook her head. "I'm starting to get worried. He's never out this late."

Jack stood nearby, examining his wrist-gadget intently.

"Nothing," he said, dropping his arm. "No trace of them. Not a teleport. Not a data-trail. Not even a transfer residue. It's like they actually… just…"

"Vanished?" asked Willow.

"But no one just vanishes," Jack said. "It's got to be technology. Some super-advanced, futuristic…"

Willow held up her hand, to silence him. Then walked forwards, her eyes closed, to the place where Buffy had vanished. Feeling the world beneath her feet, the psychic essence of the planet floating through her, amplified by her own essence.

"It's something ancient," she corrected Jack. "More ancient than we could ever imagine."

She dropped her hands. Opened her eyes.

"So?" said Jack. "Where are they?"

Willow sighed. "Another dimension. Removed from our own. Inaccessible, unreachable, incomprehensible. A place to which we can never hope to go."

"In that case," said Xander, turning around, "I'm going someplace Seo can never hope to go. The hospital."


	29. Chapter 29

Buffy was in eternity. Infinity.

That was the only way she could describe it. There was no floor, no end to 'down' — but she was kneeling on something. There was no end to 'up', either. When she looked above her, she could just see endlessness. The overpowering, overwhelmingness of infinity.

The surrounding areas were featureless. It was one color, yet it was every color, all at once. The colors all faded one into another, inside her mind, as if Buffy was drowning in a rainbow she couldn't quite see.

The three ghosts were gone.

But Seo was still in her arms. Still breathing. Still unconscious.

Buffy lay her down on the ground. Stood up and stepped backwards, looking around herself, trying to take it all in. The everything and the forever. Listening to the reverberations of words she hadn't said, yet, might never say, might have said back when she was a child, echoing through the air. In patches, the ground seemed almost to pool liquid beneath her feet, until she looked down, and discovered that it hadn't.

"Hello?" she called.

A gasp from Seo, as she shot up. Eyes open.

"I'm alive," she said. She sounded like she couldn't believe it. She raised up her hands, inspecting them as if doubting their existence. "I… why am I alive?"

"Seo," Buffy called, as softly and gently as she could.

Seo snapped her head around, staring at Buffy. Then jumped to her feet, and backed away. "No," she said. "No! I know about you. Dad told me about you. Whatever you want, I'm not doing it."

Buffy frowned. "Not doing…?"

Then realized. Who else liked to wander around in extra-dimensional planes, taking on Buffy's shape. Who would be very eager to get their hands on a super-weapon that was even more powerful than the Scythe, and could wipe out the Slayers forever. And probably would show up looking like Buffy to mess with someone like Seo, for whom Buffy had special significance.

Buffy rushed over to Seo, took her hands. "It's me," she said. "Really me. I was holding you when you got transported here. I came with you."

"You… came…" Seo felt Buffy's hands, as if testing them to make sure they were real. She looked up into Buffy's eyes. "They took you, too."

Buffy nodded.

Seo yanked her hands away. "I… I didn't want this to happen," she said. "I thought they'd keep you on Earth. I thought you'd be safe. I… thought…" Then her face crinkled into gratefulness, and she threw her arms around Buffy, hugging her so tight that Buffy almost couldn't breathe. "Don't leave."

Buffy put her own arms around Seo. "I'm not leaving," she assured her. "I'm right here." She could feel the child trembling, Seo's eyes squeezed shut as if not wanting to see what awaited her. "You don't have to be scared."

"Not scared," Seo squeaked. She forced herself to pull out of the embrace. Putting on as brave a face as she could manage. "I never get scared."

Buffy glanced at their surroundings. "Do you know where we are?" she asked.

Seo hesitated, also looking around herself. Then shook her head. "Another dimension, I think," she guessed. She stuck out her tongue, as if testing it. "Yeah. The air tastes… other dimensiony."

"Hell dimensiony?" asked Buffy.

Seo retrieved her tongue. "I don't know what a Hell dimension tastes like."

Buffy actually did. She'd been to a lot of Hell dimension type things. And they definitely didn't look or taste or smell like this. This place was mostly just… confusing.

"Not Hell dimensiony," Buffy assured her. She looked around, hoping that someone would show up and let them know where they were, and what was going on. But still, no one. "And… do you have any idea who took us here?"

Seo shook her head.

"The same people who took your dad, though?" Buffy checked.

Seo hesitated. Then nodded.

Buffy gave a small smile. "Well, that's something, at least," she muttered. Then, to Seo, "And I'm guessing these guys want you alive because they want you to kill lots of people. Even though you don't want to."

"I… don't know why they want me alive," said Seo. "Dad said if they ever caught me, they'd kill me. For good."

Buffy glanced around. If Seo's dad was here, Buffy was guessing that explained why these ghost-whatevers hadn't killed Seo, yet. He'd already worked out something behind the scenes — some reason they couldn't harm her.

"Don't worry," Buffy assured Seo. "The Doctor isn't about to let us die. He's probably doing something super clever, behind the scenes, to get us out of this."

Seo's eyes went wide. "The Doctor?" she asked. "You mean… they took him, too?"

Buffy blinked. Then blinked again. "But… you said… they broke into your home and took…"

"My _dad_ ," Seo confirmed. "I never said anything about the Doctor."

Buffy's jaw dropped open.

"But… but you have two hearts!" she said. "You've got his eyes! His freckles! You lick things! You speak Bird and Snake and you believe in talking to aliens, and…"

Seo seemed to realize Buffy's confusion. She gave a small laugh, and shook her head. "Well, of course I do. The Doctor is _my father_. Biologically speaking. But my parents died when I was a baby. I've heard stories about the Doctor, and I know a lot about him. But I don't even remember meeting him. Not really."

"What?!" said Buffy. "He's… the Doctor is…?" No. No, that couldn't be true. Couldn't possibly be true! The Doctor couldn't just… be dead! It wasn't possible.

Seo clapped her hands over her mouth. "I… shouldn't have said that," she realized.

Buffy tried to clear her head. "But… if the Doctor… your _father_ … is dead… then who's your _'dad'_?"

"Dad's the one who saved me," said Seo, removing her hands. "When the world was ending, and I was going to die. He saved me. Raised me. And locked me up. He's the one who's always been there for me when I needed him. Always gave me a hug when I needed a hug. Always forgave me when I blew things up or screwed up his plans or acted stupid. He's…"

Her face suddenly turned white, as her eyes landed on something over Buffy's shoulder. She pushed Buffy aside, and raced forward, crying out, "Dad!"

Buffy turned. To discover a long, icy tube that had just appeared a short ways away. An icy tube that seemed to reach endlessly into the heavens, and just as endlessly down below. But at their eye level was a man, trapped inside. Unmoving. As if frozen. Except… not.

It was a face that Buffy recognized. Just as she recognized what the ripples of stillness, covering his skin inside the tube, that made his body fade in and out of reality seemed to indicate.

A man in a leather jacket. Semi-corporeal. And not the Doctor.

_"He saved a child," the Super-Doctor-Protecting Entity had told her, in that alternate timeline. "A baby girl he should never have saved. Gave her a future she should never have had." He'd given a small smile. "Can't condemn him for something I've done myself."_

Buffy approached, as Seo was examining the ice tube frantically, searching for something she could undo, some lock she could unlock, some way she could release him. Buffy was just thinking, digesting what all this meant.

"You saved a child," she said to the entity, even though he couldn't hear. Then pressed her hand against the ice, which rippled and glowed beneath her palm, but did not give. "You saved _my_ child."

"Apparently, you asked him to," said a voice from behind them. "Or that's the defense he gave, at any rate." A small sigh. "You have no idea how much trouble that wish of yours has caused, Buffy Summers."

Buffy spun around, to find a glowing man standing behind her. No… not… glowing, exactly. It was like… the impression of light you got, after you'd been staring at something bright for too long, and someone had just shut it off. His entire form seemed to swim before Buffy's eyes, and yet, at the same time, seem incredibly solid. She reached out her hand, to see if he was corporeal. And, when her hand reached his body, she discovered it was now hanging back at her side, as if she'd never raised it at all.

"Chief General Andor," the man introduced, with a little bow. "And it really is a pleasure to meet you in person. For all that you have done for the Earth — we hold you in the highest possible respect."

Buffy felt tension flood through her. Felt an icy grip seize her heart. As she suddenly had… a very nasty suspicion… she knew who was behind all of this.

"Oh, no," she said, backing up a little, and running right into the icy tube. "No. Please, please tell me you're not who I think you—"

Seo rushed forward, and Buffy just barely managed to catch her and drag her back in time.

"Let Dad go!" Seo shouted at Andor. "You've got me, now! You don't need him."

Andor's eyes focused on Seo, and all lightness fell from his expression. His face grew hard, dark, stern. He crossed his arms, peering at her, closely, as if scrutinizing her.

"So it is you," he said. "Our deepest fears, our darkest nightmares made flesh. Death has come, and it comes as a primitive. A half-breed." He made a face, as if the idea was somehow supremely distasteful to him. "Who calls herself 'Seosyrae'."

Seo went very still. Her breath coming fast, her eyes focused on the creature before her. "I might be born for Death, but I'm not killing anyone for you," she warned. "I'm not going to let you use me to destroy the world. Or the galaxy. Or the universe."

"Oh, I believe you have done enough universal destruction yourself, child," came a disembodied female voice from some ways ahead of Buffy.

And as Buffy squinted, she realized that she could see, looming before her, a large, endlessly long raised podium that had popped into existence, containing five raised desks of different heights — the highest being in the center — each sporting a regal-looking glowingish figure, of different stance and posture.

Buffy rubbed her eyes. Had this podium thing just appeared? Or had it always been there, and Buffy just hadn't noticed it, before?

The man in the center — the tall, ceremonially dressed man, in the highest podium — stood, peering at Seo with the same intensity as Andor had, earlier. He pointed at Seo. "You. Seosyrae. Born for death, murder, and destruction. You caused the death of your own world, and now you're causing the death of this one."

Seo cowered back. "I don't… I don't understand," she said. "I didn't…. What do you want with me?"

"We want nothing _with_ you," said the woman who'd spoken before — from her spot to the right of the highest podium. "We have brought you here to hear the verdict of your trial, and for its execution. In the name of justice."

The man opened his arms wide, to indicate the others around him. "We, the Powers that Be, condemn you, Seosyrae, for the crime of being a creature of evil, whose creation was for the demolition of all things. For the crimes you have committed in your past, and those you will commit in your future, we sentence you to complete termination."


	30. Chapter 30

"No!" Buffy shouted. She really hadn't wanted to be right. Really, really hadn't wanted to be right. "No, no, no, no! You can't be the Powers that Be! You can't… they're the good guys!"

The woman who'd spoken earlier turned to Andor. "Explain the Slayer's presence here."

"One of the drones must have brought her, accidentally, while they were transporting Seosyrae," Andor reported. "I apologize, Councilors. I can have her removed as soon as possible."

The man at the tallest podium raised his hand. "No, Andor. Buffy Summers is one of the leading forces for good in the world. One of the bravest, most valiant ever to number amongst our warriors. I will not see her thrown out of our headquarters like a savage." He gave Buffy a bow of respect. "My apologies, Miss Summers. We are honored."

Buffy's head was spinning. For a group of people that were trying to kill her daughter, and had imprisoned the only super-being Buffy had ever really liked, they did seem weirdly pro-Buffy.

"I am Supreme Councilor Laom," the man continued. He gestured to his right. "This is Second Councilor Henadraia…" The woman nodded. "Fourth Councilor Ezixil…" The squat, ethereal man beside Henadraia nodded. Supreme Councilor Laom then gestured to his left, "Third Councilor Talcon…" a nod from Talcon, "and Fifth Councilor Vaya." A nod from the last woman.

"We welcome you as an honored guest, Miss Summers," said Second Councilor Henadraia. "Your efforts have not gone unnoticed. And your bravery shall not be unrewarded."

"Reward, huh?" said Buffy. "Okay." She nodded over at Seo. "She's the reward I want. Now let her go."

The Councilors all exchanged nervous glances.

"I'm afraid that isn't possible," Supreme Councilor Laom explained, sitting back down at his podium. "Seosyrae is a being of evil. She has only been on the Earth for two months, and already her very presence has caused a terrible battle, the destruction of many innocent lives, and the re-emergence of an army of evil that should have been wiped out long ago. Her appearance and subsequent disappearance has caused an upheaval in the Balance, allowing the being you know as 'the First' to gain influence just when his vengeance might be taken. And all because of her continued existence!" He pointed at Seo, his eyes still peering at her in that intense, almost studying manner.

"But… but… I didn't do anything!" Seo protested.

Fifth Councilor Vaya raised up her hand, summoning a projection into the air, nearby. A projection which showed a typical ghost-shift in London, the ghosts crawling around an urban area.

"We removed you from the Earth on June 30, 2007," Supreme Councilor Laom said. "One day later, on the first of July, this is what will happen."

In the projection, the ghosts shimmered. Then materialized, fully, upon the world, revealing themselves to be large metal men with remorseless eyes. The humans nearby began screaming, running away, as the metal men killed randomly, taking those they didn't kill for 'conversion' — which was also shown, on the projection.

"But I… I didn't have anything to do with…" Seo said.

Fifth Councilor Vaya rotated her hand, and the image shifted to show a large, black Sphere, hanging in the center of a lab in Torchwood London.

Seo stepped back. "The… Sphere."

"The one you found, nestled in the Howling," Supreme Councilor Laom agreed. "The one you brought to Earth. The one that caused the rift at Canary Wharf to open, allowing the Cybermen passage into our universe."

Seo's eyes widened. "What?"

On the projection, the Sphere turned, twisted, and then opened. And creatures floated from the top. Metallic creatures. Creatures whose appearance made Buffy's blood run cold.

"Daleks," Buffy breathed.

"The Daleks will invade London," Supreme Councilor Laom concurred. "Exterminating all in their path. The emergence of the Cult of Skaro from the Sphere will lead, eventually, to the Daleks' re-establishment as a race across space and time. A race more evil than vampires, more deadly than demons, and more ruthless than even the fiercest dragon. And she, Seosyrae, has brought them."

On the projection, Buffy watched as thousands and thousands of Daleks swarmed across London, spit out of a floating oblong thingy, exterminating everyone in their sight. People crashing to the ground, dying, their skeletons illuminated for just a second before they dropped.

Seo's eyes were glued to the image, as well. "I… _I_ brought…?" She paused. Then turned to face the Supreme Councilor, her jaw set, determination in her eyes. "Send me back."

The Councilors seemed vaguely amused by the idea.

"Send me back!" Seo demanded. She pointed at the projection. "That's still a day in my future. I can change it. I can stop this happening! I might not have a lot of experience, but I'm clever. Just send me back to Earth, let me break into Torchwood London. Let me prevent this all from happening!"

"You have caused enough damage already," Forth Councilor Ezixil said. "You are a thing of evil. We will not send you back to increase your death toll."

Buffy stepped forward. "What the hell is wrong with you?" she demanded. She pointed at the projection. "Those people are dying. The world is being destroyed!"

"Yes," Third Councilor Talcon agreed. "And Seosyrae is to blame for—"

"Who cares who's to blame?" Buffy shouted. "You're the Powers that Be! If the world's in trouble, why don't you get off your lazy asses and _do_ something about it?!"

Supreme Councilor Laom gave Buffy a warm smile. "My dear Miss Summers," he said. "You do not catch our meaning. We _are_ doing something about it. We are terminating the weapon who calls herself 'Seosyrae'."

Buffy stomped her foot. "No!" she said. "No, you're not. Don't you get it? Killing Seo isn't going to help save those people. Killing her isn't going to stop the Daleks! Or the Cybermen! The only thing you've done so far is to remove the two people who could actually fix this, just when the world needs us most."

"Two people?" said Third Councilor Talcon. He seemed highly amused. "The second person being… Seosyrae? Embodiment of Death? Vanquisher of Life?"

"Stop calling me that!" Seo snapped.

"Seo is the only one here who's thinking reasonably," Buffy told the Councilors. "While you guys are stuck assigning blame and conducting faux-trials, she's trying to figure out how to actually save the world. Stop the deaths that you are condemning her for causing. In my mind, that makes her a lot more 'good' than you stupid Powers that Be."

The Supreme Councilor waved Buffy's assertions away. "The world will already be saved," he informed her. "The contract might restrict our actions, but, rest assured, when the Sphere opens and the Cybermen come through, the Doctor will be there. In Torchwood London. After all, the First has a score to settle with his companion."

The projection shifted, to show Rose Tyler, hanging onto a lever, being pulled into the glowing energy of the rift. The Doctor screaming out to her, as she lost her grip, and fell…

The projection flickered out, disappeared back into the infinity of the space around them.

Buffy's eyes were hard. Cold.

"What?!" she demanded.

"Our concerns are not restrained to the affairs of planet Earth," Supreme Councilor Laom said. "The termination of the Weapon is far more important to the universe than anything else. Seosyrae should have died with her own world — making her ultimate destruction 98 years overdue."

"And the First will find some way to seek revenge on Rose Tyler, no matter what," Second Councilor Henadraia added. "We have done all we can for planet Earth. Our current efforts must lie elsewhere."

"Besides, Rose Tyler's disappearance causes your own history," said Fourth Councilor Ezixil. "It must happen."

"She's my fake adopted sister!" Buffy said. "I'm not just going to sit around and let her…." She shook her head, then grabbed Seo's hand, and marched forward. "I've had enough of you. All of you. If I'm an honored guest, I demand you send us back to Earth, exactly when and where you found us."

The Supreme Councilor made a conciliatory gesture. "Of course. At once." He gestured over at Andor, who gave a curt nod, then grabbed Seo out of Buffy's hands, restraining her.

Buffy lunged forwards, and grabbed Seo back. "She's with me."

Supreme Councilor Laom sighed. "You may return, if you wish," he explained, "but the Weapon cannot come with you. It is your choice."

Buffy froze. "You're… you're asking me to choose between saving my fake adopted sister, the city of London, tons of people across the whole world," she said, "and saving my daughter?!" She felt the icy burn of injustice in her heart. "And you're the _good guys_?!"

"Daughter?" asked Second Councilor Henadraia. She turned to the other Councilors. "Can't she see?"

Andor stepped forward. "Humans are a very primitive form of life," he explained to the Councilors. "As stinted in their notions of good and evil as they are limited by their lack of dimensional understanding. Put simply, the primitive mind cannot accept what the eye actually sees of Seosyrae, and so fills in the details accordingly. To Buffy Summers — or any other lower dimensional being — the Weapon will look normal."

"What are you talking about?" Buffy said. She noticed that Seo was now looking down at the ground, a guilty expression on her face, and thought she might be asking the wrong people. "What are they talking about, Seo?"

"I… just wanted to be normal," Seo said. "And you thought I was, and… and… I didn't correct you."

Supreme Councilor Laom shook his head, sadly. "You _have_ been keeping secrets from her," he remarked to Seo. "You haven't even told her your real name, yet, have you?"

Seo's face turned white. "She doesn't need to know that."

Buffy looked between the Councilors, and Seo. Her grip loosening, a hair. "What… what are you…?"

The Supreme Councilor waved a hand. "This will uncloud your vision for a brief while," he said. "This is Seosyrae as she really is. What the primitive, lower dimensional mind cannot see."

And with the wave of his hand, Buffy watched as Seo's form… faded out. Almost into thin air. As if there was nothing there, no image at all, except… there was an image. If you looked very hard, if you peered and squinted and studied very closely, you could see her. Could make out the freckles, the blond hair, the deep brown eyes. Every detail of her body and face.

Buffy blinked, and her vision returned to normal. She dropped Seo's hand, and stepped back.

"What are you?" Buffy asked. She wracked her brain. "You're… you're like the Dalek-holding Sphere. You give off no readings. You can't actually be seen. You're… I don't know… something Daleky, or…"

"No!" said Seo. "No, I'm… I'm not like the Sphere. I'm the opposite!"

Buffy's head was spinning. "Huh?!"

"The Sphere imitated something that didn't exist. It gave off no readings, no signs, no signals. But it exists. It's real," said Seo. "As for me… you can interact with me. Touch me. Talk to me. I can reach in and affect the world around me. But that's just me imitating something that exists." She gave a guilty shrug. "I… don't. I'm not real."

Buffy felt like there was something she was seriously not getting, here. "You're not real?"

"I wasn't just raised in the Axis," said Seo. "I'm _from_ the Axis. When Dad saved me… he broke quarantine. Took me out of one of the timelines he'd edited out of the universe. I'm… a child… you'll never have. Because I'm not real."

Buffy's mouth fell open.

"That isn't entirely true," Supreme Councilor Laom said. "But it is partially the reason she's like this. The truth is, Seosyrae exists perpendicular to the dimensions you inhabit. That was how she was created. You can touch her, interact with her, hear her. With a primitive mind, you can even see her as a normal person. But any device that attempts to scan her — reducing her image to an even simpler set of dimensions — will wind up with nothing at all."

"She still isn't your child," Third Councilor Talcon added. "She will never be your child. The possibility of her existence has been removed from the time stream."

Buffy turned to the Councilors. "But… if she was in quarantine, and her very presence in our universe would cause all sorts of badness, then why did that Super-Entity let her get out in the first…?" Then she realized. "Because you broke into the Axis. You were going to kill her."

"We had little choice," said Second Councilor Henadraia. "The Embarrassment did not simply save her life. He loved her as if she really were his child. He knew she was lonely. He was always planning to unleash her onto the universe, eventually."

"He had already allowed her entrance into the other quarantined timelines," said Fifth Councilor Vaya, waving her hand in the air. "That is how we found out she had arrived in our reality. Her interaction with others, in the quarantined timelines, caused a ripple effect that broke through into the real universe."

Buffy could see, before her, a spread of images — of countless numbers of different people and places that she just knew, without understanding how, were pieces of fractured timelines. Fractured timelines that Seo had entered.

Their messages — caused by Seo's interaction with them — all overlapping in an overwhelming cacophony. Yet all saying precisely the same thing.

"Death is coming; death for all."

Buffy remembered when she'd first heard those words. When they'd first penetrated into the real world. She remembered Sineya approaching her in a dream and saying those very words. Telling Buffy that she could stop Death, could destroy the threat, but that she wouldn't.

Because it was Seo.

("Please, _please_ ," the entity had begged her, when she'd met him in 2003, "Remember. Remember to save her.")

But that wasn't the main thing on Buffy's brain at the moment.

"The Embarrassment?" she asked.

The Supreme Councilor pointed at the trapped entity in the ice tube behind them. "A higher dimensional being with the soul of humanity," he said. "The Embarrassment. And truly an embarrassment for us all."

"Why?" Buffy snapped. "What's wrong with the 'soul of humanity'?"

Andor sighed, muttering, "Cordelia said it'd be a bad idea to bring the Slayer here."

Cordelia?!

"Nothing is wrong with it, Miss Summers," the Supreme Councilor replied. "But it inspires a primitive mindset. A flexible view of right and wrong, swayed by petty emotions and social attachments."

"The Embarrassment was willing to sacrifice himself, his principles, and the entire universe in order to prolong the life of a child he loved," Third Councilor Talcon added. "It was an embarrassing situation that required a good deal of paperwork to sort out."

"According to a strictly objective moral viewpoint, the answer is clear," Second Councilor Henadraia concluded. "Seosyrae was designed for malicious purposes. Her objective, purpose, and function were highly dangerous even before she was extracted from her proper timeline, and now that she _has_ been—"

"I'm not Death!" Seo shouted. She stepped forward, her eyes begging for some hint of mercy or compassion. "I know that I was born to kill someone. I know why that scares you. But… I didn't kill her!"

"You didn't have the chance," Fifth Councilor Vaya said. "You were too young, when it happened. A baby. You were barely aware of what was taking place around you."

"But I've got the chance, now!" said Seo. "And I haven't done anything, yet. I haven't even tried!"

"There is no point pressing the matter further," Fourth Councilor Ezixil told the other Councilors, ignoring Seo. "The events Andor set into motion at the end of 2004 proved to us what someone like Seosyrae, pushed to breaking point, could achieve. Her sentence has already been passed. We should begin her termination at once."

Buffy felt her blood run cold. She turned to Andor. "You… were responsible… for the Doctor's being tortured?!"

"It was completely in accordance with the limitations set down by the contract," Andor replied. "I don't condone torture, but as a step to wiping out the vampires and proving the Weapon's destructive power, it was necessary."

Buffy clenched her fists, her teeth gritted. Blood boiling.

"I haven't even had a trial, yet!" Seo shouted at the Councilors. "Don't I get the right to defend myself before you execute me?"

"You had the chance, and you ran, instead," said Supreme Councilor Laom. "We have tried you in your absence. And, rest assured, you have been well defended."

Fifth Councilor Vaya waved her hand, and an image of the Ninth Doctor (no, not the Ninth Doctor, Seo's Dad) — restrained, his very existence rippling into and out of reality — popped into the air. Playing a montage of different bits he'd said, before, when they'd actually been prepared to listen.

_"She's an innocent," he said. "Wasn't even a year old, when her world ended. Couldn't have stopped it, even if she'd been older. It was_ my _crime._ My _fault. I was the one who saved her life. She had nothing to do with that."_

It cut to another image.

_"No," he said. "She isn't a weapon. I didn't raise her to be a weapon. Raised her the way her parents would have wanted. Good hearts, she has. Both of them. Would rather save lives than destroy."_

_"And yet, you kept her imprisoned her entire life," said Henadraia._

_"She wasn't 'imprisoned', however much she might moan and fuss and complain about it," said Seo's dad. "She was in hiding. From you. If you lot hadn't wanted to kill her, I'd have let her out."_

This one of the Supreme Councilor, addressing Seo's dad.

_"You know how dangerous she could be," the Supreme Councilor said. "The events of 2004 proved what she is capable of, even without the extra power at her disposal. If she accessed her regenerative reserves… it could mean the end of everything. The complete destruction of—"_

_"She won't," Seo's dad replied. "Made sure of that. She doesn't understand death. Only natural, growing up in the Axis, where everything always loops and everyone always comes back. She assumes, even in the real world, everyone comes back to life. Never corrected that notion, me. She's out there, in the real world, yes. But she thinks her life's in more danger than all the rest of them. She won't access her full power. Won't even know it's there."_

_Silence from the other Councilors._

_"Please," Seo's dad begged them. "Imprison me. Do what you want to me. Let her go. Let her live her lives in freedom. It's what she's always deserved."_

Fifth Councilor Vaya waved her hand, and the image left the air.

"The Embarrassment knew the consequences of his crime," said Second Councilor Henadraia. "He saved the Weapon anyways, then unleashed her onto the universe, and has been suitably punished for his deeds."

The Supreme Councilor seemed to notice the building rage inside of Buffy, and gave her a placating, pitying look. "It is regrettable, assuredly," he said. "The child does seem to be as the Embarrassment said. A child with pure hearts, whose mind and soul are devoted to the principles of light and goodness. But you must see the reality of the situation, Miss Summers. Seosyrae's essence is evil. She cannot change that. If her power were to fall into the hands of someone like the First…"

"Oh, my God!" shouted Buffy. "You actually think I'm going to sympathize with you? Side with you? Let you kill Seo? After what I heard you did to the Doctor!"

"Andor has been reprimanded for his actions," Supreme Councilor Laom replied. "He was far too flexible with the contract's terms, we admit. But in the end, it was decided that he did not technically break contract. And while his measures were drastic — considering the threat that the Weapon poses, they were a necessary illustration."

"And his actions caused an unparalleled victory for our side," Fourth Councilor Ezixil added. "The extinction of the vampires—"

"You're insane!" Buffy said. "Do you have any idea what I went through? Any idea what the Doctor went through? You put us through all of that, and you say it was necessary so you could get enough evidence to prove you should _kill our daughter_?!"

"She isn't—" Second Councilor Henadraia began.

"I don't care!" Buffy screamed, stomping on the non-existent ground. "I don't care if she's not my real daughter. Dawn's not my real sister, either — and I still love her like she was." She went over, and put her arm around Seo's shoulders. "Seo's real to me. She might be a manipulative liar with the maturity level of a five year old, and the martial arts abilities of a Slayer, but… Mr. No-Name-Seo's-Dad-Entity was right. She _isn't evil_. She's not a weapon. And if people would just tell her things, I'm sure she'd be just as big a force for good as I am."

A better force for good than these manipulative useless bureaucratic morons.

"You haven't told her the truth about yourself at all, have you?" Fifth Councilor Vaya asked Seo. "She might have worked out enough that we could trace the thought of you in her mind, but she has no idea who you really are. Who you were born to kill. What that means."

Seo bit her lower lip, and looked away.

Buffy stood firm. "I don't care if she's still keeping secrets," she said. "There are plenty of secrets the Doctor keeps, and I still trust him more than anyone. Seo isn't a threat. She isn't a danger. Seo's dad — your… Embarrassment whatever — knew all her secrets, all her darkness, all that she could do. And he still believed she was a good person. I trust his judgment."

Every single one of the Councilors burst out laughing.

Buffy was a little taken aback. "What?" she said. "It's not funny. I'm telling you that—"

"You trust the Embarrassment because he helped you," Third Councilor Talcon cut in. "Did what you asked him to. Tried to warn you, when you were making a mistake. Could never say no to you. But you've never stopped to ask yourself… why?"

"In the death throes of Seosyrae's world," said Fourth Councilor Ezixil, "both you and the Doctor pleaded with the Embarrassment to save your daughter's life. The Embarrassment refused the Doctor, telling him it was far too dangerous. But caved for you."

"The Embarrassment's job is to protect the Doctor," added Fifth Councilor Vaya. "Has it never occurred to you to ask why the Embarrassment can deny the Doctor, but cannot deny _you_?"

Buffy didn't know what to say. Because she _had_ wondered. She'd wondered a lot. And it had never really made sense to her.

"It was guilt," said Second Councilor Henadraia. "Guilt over what he'd done to you."

"What he'd…?" Buffy asked.

"Seosyrae," said the Supreme Councilor. "You've lived in the Axis your entire life. You've seen the many different timelines kept therein. But have you ever seen… the back room?"

Seo went very still. Very quiet.

"Dad said… that was a mistake," she whispered.

"A 'mistake' he signed as a formal written contract," said the Supreme Councilor. "A 'mistake' he continued to make, from just after the first incident until the moment of his second incarceration."

Seo said nothing.

"There was no mistake," said Supreme Councilor Laom. "The contract is very clear. It separates the Doctor from the Balance between Good and Evil. Does not permit us to meddle in his affairs, recruit him for our cause, or interfere in his lives in any way."

"Save for a few loopholes," Andor muttered.

"And do you know what the Embarrassment gave up to allow this?" Supreme Councilor Laom continued. "To allow the Doctor his freedom, do you know what he did?"

"The Embarrassment destroyed your life," said Second Councilor Henadraia. "The life of Buffy Anne Summers. Slayer. He looked through your personal timeline. Examined the probabilities. Took every one that might lead to your ultimate happiness, ultimate success, ultimate contentment. And quarantined them out of the universe."

"Your happy endings," said Third Councilor Talcon. "Gone. Erased. Shoved into a back room of the Axis and forgotten forever. Because the Embarrassment wanted the Doctor to have a little extra freedom."

Supreme Councilor Laom raised up a piece of paper for Buffy to see. The contract that made the Doctor separate from the Balance. The contract that granted the Doctor his freedom and independence from the Powers that Be. The contract that enslaved Buffy. Destroyed her life.

No happy endings.

Buffy, feeling numb, unsure, nauseous, let go of Seo. Tried to regain her balance, her focus. Her entire idea of what her life should be.

Andor grabbed Seo away, instead. Dragged her across the room, in only two strides. Supreme Councilor Laom nodded at him. "We've delayed long enough," he announced. "Begin the execution."


	31. Chapter 31

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who'll show up in Part II?

Buffy tried to strike out. Tried to run forward and snatch Seo away. But the moment she began to run, she discovered herself standing back where she'd been, before, as if she'd never left.

Seo was kicking, screaming, struggling. Using all of her strength, this time — and still failing to make any real impact. It wasn't until Andor began attempting to strap her down that she landed a punch that actually threw him back. Winded him. He staggered to his feet, panting.

"It has begun!" shouted Second Councilor Henadraia. "Execute her! Now!"

A group of other ethereal shapes emerged from the infinity, surrounding Seo, who tried to fight back. Tried to shake them off.

"Let her go!" Buffy pleaded, when it was obvious that due to this screwed up causality thing, she wasn't going to make it over to help Seo. "Please. For me. For someone who's fought for you most of my life. Please!"

But the Councilors weren't listening to Buffy anymore.

Seo gave a terrified scream, one that almost seemed to be calling Buffy's name. One that made Buffy charge even harder, struggling against odds and impossibility and screwed up causality, to get to her. Rescue her. Save her life.

And then… the world seemed to freeze, crystallized in a brilliant silver light. A light that laced through every cell of Buffy's body, a light filled with a destructive coldness, a raw biting power. And Buffy could feel herself falling, falling, falling through nothing…

"Please wake up," Buffy heard, from someone kneeling just above her. "Please."

Buffy opened her eyes.

Seo was crouched over her, holding her hand, relief suddenly flooding the girl's face. Those big brown eyes looking so expressive, so lively, so full of hope and fear and terror and a vast sea of kindness…

Buffy sat up. Looked around. They were in a forest, back on Earth. Or, at least, it looked like a forest back on Earth. The vegetation looked approximately right — okay, not actually exactly right, come to think of it, but close enough — and the sky was still blue, although pretty cloudy, the grass was still green, the fallen leaves were still brown beneath Buffy's hands. But…

It was quiet. Deadly quiet.

No sounds of birds. Of chittering squirrels. Of buzzing insects. Of distant cars, or nearby hikers, or anything. In fact, as far as Buffy could see, there were no animals or people here at all.

Just the forest.

"Where are we?" Buffy asked. Then put her hand up to her head, to soothe the headache. "No, wait. Better question. How'd we get here?"

Seo hesitated. Looking around. "I… did… stuff."

Buffy gave Seo a challenging look. "What kind of stuff?"

"Stuff stuff!" Seo retorted. She stumbled to her feet, still looking around herself, her eyes never fixed in a single spot. "You know. Something really clever that I definitely knew I was going to do, and definitely planned on doing, all along."

Buffy sighed, pulling herself to her feet. "You've got absolutely no idea, do you?"

Seo didn't answer.

"I guess that means," said Buffy, "that you also don't know where we are."

"Not Earth."

Uh-huh. Okay, then. "And you just… happen to know that because…?" Buffy asked.

"The rotation of the planet feels funny," Seo replied.

Right then.

"They'll find us," Seo said, her eyes turning back to Buffy. "What I did to get us here… they can trace it. Use it to figure out which planet I'm on."

"Well, unless this planet's got, like, a four foot radius, that's not narrowing it down a whole bunch," said Buffy. She paused. "Unless… they can read my mind to know exactly where you are."

"I tried to shield your mind, while you were unconscious," Seo said. "But… it was… confusing in there." She fidgeted in place. "I'm a bit rubbish at telepathic hypnosis brain-altering type things."

Okay. Well, whatever Seo had done might have bought them some time. Or not.

"I need to figure out some way to get my dad out," Seo said. "There has to be some way I can get back to where he's imprisoned. I mean, I got here. I have to be able to—"

"Seo," said Buffy, grabbing her by the shoulders and forcing her to face her. "You're in trouble. Really serious trouble. I don't know if this has sunk in, but you're being hunted by the Powers that Be. If they're trying to kill you like this, I'm guessing it's because they're scared to death that the First is going to get its hands on you. And if the First gets its hands on you — _that's_ the bad guy."

Seo didn't answer.

"You know something about yourself that I don't," said Buffy. "And whatever. That's not important. What's important, right now, is making sure that we fix whatever's wrong with you, get home, and keep you hidden."

"Nothing's wrong…" Seo started.

"Uh-huh," said Buffy. "Nothing's wrong with you. Because you randomly producing evil silvery flashes you don't seem to understand isn't wrong at all. Because accessing your regenerative energy that one time didn't cause something weird to happen, which is making you traceable by the Powers that Be, and is massively freaking you out. Because you didn't go through a major existential crisis, right after you gave Xander back his—"

"Minor," Seo muttered.

Buffy raised her eyebrows.

"It was just a minor existential crisis," Seo said. She shuffled, awkwardly. "I've been through a lot of existential crises in my life. They… get easier to deal with, after you've gone through the first five."

Oh, yeah. What with her being from a reality that didn't technically exist. If Dawn had flipped out just discovering she was the Key, Seo's learning she should never have even been born would have been seriously major on the freak-out-factor.

Should never have been born. And came from a race that was wiped out of the universe, so they never technically existed in the first place.

And was considered to be 'Death'.

Geeze, poor kid.

"And even if the silver energy thing is totally fine," Buffy continued, "there's still the problem that you're from a quarantined timeline. In the Axis. The moment you got out, you managed to survive going through two portals that should have killed you, and wound up accidentally causing a Dalek-Cyberman invasion of Earth."

"I know!" Seo shouted. "I… just… I'm sorry."

"I might not want you to die, Seo," said Buffy. "But you've got to realize. Your existence actually _is_ a serious problem."

Seo looked down at the ground. Chastised.

"A problem I really, really don't know how to fix," Buffy continued.

Seo frowned, her brow furrowed in intense concentration. "Would… the Seed of Wonder help?" she asked.

Buffy's eyes widened. "What?"

Seo reached into her pocket, and pulled out a few shards of a rubbery feeling, yet rigid substance that compromised a shell to the Seed. She handed them to Buffy, who stared. The shards weren't empty, as she'd expected. No. They were filled to the brim with still semi-attached, rusted and half-petrified computer-looking machine parts.

"The Seed of Wonder was a computer?" Buffy asked.

"I don't know what it was," said Seo. "I don't understand the technology. Some of it I can figure out. Others are… weird. Like they don't follow the basic laws of physics."

Seo took out another shard, and Buffy stepped back, waving her hands to indicate they were full.

"Oh," said Seo. "I've got more."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Don't tell me. Dimensionally transcendental pockets."

Seo gave a guilty grin. "Maybe," she said.

Buffy handed back the pieces of the Seed of Wonder. "Well, unless you've got some idea how to use these shard things to fix whatever's wrong with you, they're not going to help. I've got no idea about any of this stuff." She paused. "Unless…"

Seo waited for her to continue, but Buffy didn't.

"Unless what?" Seo asked.

"Can you build something to unblock blocked psychic signals?" Buffy asked. She gave a little grin, and crossed her arms. "Because I know someone who wanders around fixing unsolvable problems. Someone who isn't going to kill you. Someone I'm sure will be able to get us out of this."

"Who?"

Buffy grinned wider. "Your father."

* * *

"We should have thrown Buffy Summers out at the very beginning," said Third Councilor Talcon. "Her presence and faith inspired Seosyrae to fight back. When the Weapon first arrived, she was perfectly willing to sacrifice herself for the Earth's continued survival."

"The Slayer Buffy Summers has been one of our most reliable and important warriors," Supreme Councilor Laom replied. "We owed her at least common courtesy. And it was rational to assume that she would take our side. Understand the threat that Seosyrae poses to the universe."

"Cordelia Chase did warn us that Buffy Summers was prone to emotional attachments," said Andor. "Despite the importance of her deeds and the intelligence that leads to her continued success, she is still a primitive. She cannot fathom the full spectrum of events."

"Have you traced the energy Seosyrae used to escape?" Second Councilor Henadraia asked Andor.

"I have," Andor confirmed. "It appears she has phased herself into one of the slanted dimensions, and her extraction from it has proved difficult. I've already sent an agent down to the planet's surface to keep an eye on her, but I fear we are too late. The Beast of Krop Tor, which she knows as 'the First', has already located her, and sent its legions to collect."

The Councilors all looked at one another. Worried looks on their faces.

"Is the planet Seosyrae transported to inhabited?" Fifth Councilor Vaya asked.

"Yes," Andor confirmed. "But it is a planet of savage life forms, even more primitive than the human race."

"We can destroy the planet," Fourth Councilor Ezixil offered. "In the face of such evil, we must eliminate the threat at all costs. Even when the measures prove this extreme. I can cite precedent."

"We must not destroy it unless absolutely necessary," said the Supreme Councilor. "If we destroy the planet, we lose not only its people, richness, and culture. We lose the Slayer Buffy Summers. And that would be a massive setback."

The others murmured their agreement.

"There is some hope," said the Supreme Councilor. "The Weapon, Seosyrae — while she is young and naïve, she has enough fight in her that she will not let the Beast take her over so easily. We will give her the chance to surrender herself to us, voluntarily, to save her mother. Time to contemplate the choice, in case she changes her mind. But the moment the Beast of Krop Tor closes in on Seosyrae, we will have no choice but to destroy the planet. Put the girl out of her misery. A mercy killing."

"I'm afraid it's not that simple," said Andor. "At the moment, Buffy Summers is attempting to overcome our psychic block. She wishes to contact the Doctor."

For several moments, there was nothing but silence.

"She does not know, then, that to do so would mean…?" Fifth Councilor Vaya asked.

Andor shook his head. "She has seen the probabilities falling into place," he said, "but knows nothing about their meaning. She, like the others of her kind, is blind to the evil taking over her world."

"But she cannot succeed in overcoming our psychic barriers," said Ezixil.

"The Weapon Seosyrae has collected fragments of the Seed of Wonder," Andor said. "It can be done."

"Then it is up to us to strengthen our psychic defense," said the Supreme Councilor. "Weave the psychic block into the base fabric of the universe. After May, 2001, it _must_ be impossible for Buffy Summers to contact the Doctor in any way."


	32. Chapter 32

"It should be working!" Seo said. She hit the device against a tree, in the hopes that that would fix the error. But… no luck. "It's just… not."

Well, that wasn't totally unexpected. Psychic paper messages hadn't worked for 6 years, now. What were the chances they'd work when Buffy actually needed them to?

There was a rustle of footsteps treading upon leaves. Both Buffy and Seo froze.

They'd heard no evidence of any animals up to that point.

"What…?" Seo began, but Buffy clapped a hand over her mouth.

There was something crawling in Buffy's Slayer senses. Something Buffy recognized. Something that Buffy hadn't detected in so long, she almost forgot what it felt like.

A growl, and the flash of green-tinted skin from the corner of Buffy's eyes.

"Run!" Buffy cried, as the Uber-Vamp sprung at them, hunting them down as the two dodged and wove their way through the dense foliage.

And Buffy could feel more things, heading that way. Evil things. Things Buffy hadn't felt in her Slayer senses since 2003. Had the First caught up to them, or was this some kind of First-Feeding-Planet?

Where had Seo taken them? And when? And how, for that matter? And if Seo _wasn't_ a biologically engineered Super-Weapon Genocide Machine, then what the hell was she?

Something the First really, really wanted.

Buffy slowed, as she saw the dead-end up ahead. As she saw the edge of the cliff, upon which a gigantic castle had been carved into the side of the mountain.

Seo grabbed Buffy by the arm, and yanked her forward, toward the cliff face.

"It's a dead—" Buffy started.

"Secret passage!" said Seo, as she stomped on the ground nearby, hard enough to make the entire forest shake around them, and dislodge the secret stone door built into the rock. Seo winced, as she tried to regain her footing across the shaking ground, and shoved at the door.

Buffy launched herself through the opening, then helped Seo jam it closed.

"I hate doing that," Seo confessed.

"Escaping?"

"Being all Super-Strength Seo," said Seo. "Every time I do it, it reminds me… who I am. What I'm supposed to be. What I was designed to do."

Buffy took Seo's hand in hers, giving her a half smile. "Good thing Summers girls aren't good at doing what they're supposed to," she said.

"Yeah, that's a fact," came a very familiar voice, emerging from the shadows. "I mean, do you know how many times I told you never to wear that color lip gloss? Talk about major ew factor."

Buffy stared. Barely able to believe her eyes.

"Cordelia?!" she cried. "But… you died! You…"

Then Buffy looked Cordelia up and down. And realized… there was something off about her. Something weird. The way the light flowed across her, and almost through her — even when none was shed. The way her eyes didn't quite focus correctly. The way she stood a little too tall and a little too poised.

"Oh," said Buffy. A little more guarded. "You're… _not_ Cordelia."

Cordelia gave an offended look, and crossed her arms. "I am _too_ Cordelia!" She shook her hair back behind her shoulders. "I didn't die, dummy. I got chosen for a higher purpose. Ascended to a higher plane."

Oh. So that was what Andor had meant.

"You're one of the Powers that Be," Buffy realized. She instinctively clutched Seo a little tighter.

"Yeah," said Cordelia. She rolled her eyes. "And don't get me started on the rest of them. They're like… the worst of Giles all smooshed together. Paperwork and meetings and…"

"You're here to kill my daughter," said Buffy. She shifted into a fighting stance. "I'm not going to let you."

"She isn't even your daughter!" Cordelia protested. "She doesn't actually exist, you know. I mean, I get it. You're limited by your human perspective. Your humanity. I was the same way. But if you could see what I can see, now, you'd understand. Seo isn't really a person. She's a screwed up, half-breed Weapon that should have died when she was only an infant. Her survival was a fluke. We're just correcting the problem."

Buffy barely contained herself from striking out at Cordelia where she stood.

"I'll fix whatever's wrong with Seo," said Buffy, "without killing her."

"By contacting the Doctor?" said Cordelia. She slouched in place. "Yeah, that's not a good idea. You don't want the Doctor to show up here. Take it from me. Moment he shows up? Serious evilness."

"Funny," said Buffy. "I've already got serious evilness with me." Giving Seo's hand a reassuring squeeze. "And I happen to like her."

"Not that!" said Cordelia. "You're going to set in motion a series of events that'll lead to the end of the Earth, and the emergence of a great…" She stopped. Then sighed. "Screw it. I told the others you wouldn't listen, but they were being all stuck-up-weird about how you were so smart, and you were their greatest warrior. They've been omniscient for way too long, you know? They can't even remember what it's like not to be."

Buffy stood her ground. And didn't let Seo go.

"You're never going to listen to me," Cordelia told Buffy. Then she looked down at Buffy's hand, where it held Seo's. And turned to the area beside Buffy, where she knew Seo must be. "But you might."

Seo didn't answer. Went very still.

"Here's the thing," said Cordelia. "We can't risk letting the First get its hands on you. And you've stuck yourself in a place where we can't just wave our hands and get you out. So, now, you've got a choice."

"Cordelia…" Buffy warned.

"You like Buffy a lot, don't you?" Cordelia asked, pointing her thumb at Buffy. "She might not be your real mom, but you like to pretend that she is. Because _your_ Buffy is dead. You caused her death once, in your world. And you're about to cause it again, in this one. Think about that."

Seo still said nothing. But Buffy could feel her trembling.

"The Embarrassment says you're a good kid," said Cordelia. "Passionate, stubborn, and difficult at times, but basically good. So, if you're really that good, why don't you give yourself up? Let us destroy you — painlessly, with honor, and with dignity."

"No," said Buffy.

"Or," Cordelia continued, "we'll have no choice but to blow up this whole planet, killing everyone on its surface. Even your mother. Buffy Summers." She tilted her head to the side. "So, kid. What's it going to be?"

Seo hesitated.

"You're not Cordelia," said Buffy. "You're the First."

Cordelia sighed. "Uh, no, wrong," she said. "I'm the good guy. The First doesn't want to kill Seosyrae. It wants to take away her free will, maneuver her around like a puppet, and use her to take over everything and everyone, everywhere."

Seo went pale.

Cordelia shrugged. "And, of course, because it's the First," she continued, "he won't bother actually dulling her senses or her conscience when he's doing it. He'll make her carry out every single one of his evil deeds, and relish in the fact that she feels the sting of all of it."

"Stop it!" Seo shouted.

"Oh, so you _are_ there," said Cordelia, her eyes fixing more firmly on Seo. "You should wear a glow-stick around your neck or something. You're practically invisible." She paused, considered. "No, actually. Glow sticks are tacky. Don't wear a glow stick."

Buffy turned to Seo. "Don't do anything stupid," she warned.

"But…" Seo hesitated, her eyes flicking over to Cordelia. "But… I'm going to kill you. Again. Just like—"

"She's trying to guilt-trip you into killing yourself," said Buffy. "And I'm not going to let that happen. Your dad said you were less than a year old when your world ended, and you got locked up! If my death happened before you were a year old — how could it possibly be your fault?"

"But… it was," said Seo. "They're right. I'm not good, like you. I'm some evil, planet-destroying—"

"If you're not good," said Buffy, "then why are you actually considering saying yes to Cordelia's offer?"

Seo said nothing.

"Don't give up," Buffy said, tucking some hair behind Seo's ear. "Don't give in. You're the daughter of two impossible, legendary evil-fighters. So you and me? We see injustice — and we're going to fight back."

A small smile spread across Seo's face. Along with a gleam in her eye. A gleam that Buffy recognized from the Doctor — a gleam that meant she'd just had an idea.

"You're afraid of me, aren't you?" Seo asked Cordelia. "That's why Dad wouldn't tell me who my parents were, or show me where I came from. Because he hoped that, if you ever figured out about me, you'd think I was too ignorant to be any real threat." Her eyes pierced through the darkness, and her voice dropped. "But I broke the rules. I found out the truth. I found out what I could do, and with the silver energy, I know exactly how I can do it. So..." She narrowed her eyes, and in a commanding voice, she said, "Get out of our way. Or else."

"Oh, great, here comes the melodrama!" said Cordelia. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm an immortal, all powerful, pan-dimensional—"

"Cordelia," came Andor's voice, a short distance away, as he faded into sight. "Step away from her. Slowly."

"What's she going to do?" asked Cordelia. "Contaminate me with her evilness? We're the Powers that Be. We're pure good, pure light. You can't just—"

"Everything she threatens, she can do," Andor cautioned. "Now get out of here, while you still can."

"But they're trying to—"

"They _can't_ contact the Doctor," Andor assured her. "Our psychic blocks have been laid into the base work of the universe. Probability has been defeated. The evil will not emerge."

There was a rumble from the door into the cave network, and Buffy could hear the First's army behind it, pushing it open.

"Whatever," said Cordelia, as she and Andor faded out of existence.

"What…?" Buffy started to ask Seo, but the entrance rock flew away, and an army of evil things poured inside. Buffy grabbed Seo's hand, and decided that wherever this cave network led, it was better than sticking around here. "Never mind. Run!"

It was a labyrinth. A maze of twisting and turning tunnels. And they were always only just ahead of the monsters, all the time. Always only a few steps away from their complete demise, and the demise of the entire…

Buffy stopped. Realizing Seo wasn't with her.

The creatures reached out, but Buffy did a flip, kicking out at them, knocking the first few back so that they collided with the others, dominoing the whole group backwards. She landed with a grin of pride, before she was thrust backwards by Seo, holding a lit torch.

The evil creatures stalked towards Seo, their target in sight.

Just before they made it, Seo sprinkled a powder into the torch's flame, then shoved it against a section of the ceiling.

The entire mountain shook, and as Seo dropped the torch and darted forwards, dragging Buffy along behind her, the walls exploded behind them.

"The walls — they're salt!" Seo shouted over the roar of the explosion. "Except they explode!"

Buffy stared at her. "Huh?"

"Trisillicate!" Seo explained. "This whole mountain is made of Trisillicate!"

Oh. _Oh._ Right. Buffy knew about Trisillicate. Star ship fuel of the 39th century.

They ran into a dead end, and Buffy, noticing the weird shape of the empty torch-holder, took a guess and yanked on it. Sure enough. The secret door slid open, and Buffy and Seo piled inside the chamber.

A luxurious, small chamber, filled with medieval-looking furniture.

Seo yanked on the torch-holder on the other side, and the door closed.

"Barricade," Buffy said, as she began shoving the furniture against the door. "In case they find another way through."

Seo helped, and soon, they were completely sealed in.

"Now what?" Seo asked.

It was a good question. The Powers that Be might not be willing to blow up an inhabited planet unless they had to, but who knew when beings like that might think that they 'had to' do something? When the First caught up with Seo? When the First started controlling Seo? When the First noticed Seo?

No, wait, scratch that. Too late.

"You know that barricade's never going to hold," said the suddenly appearing specter of Buffy Summers. The one that Buffy knew was the First. It strode towards Buffy and Seo. "I'm going to get in here. And then I'm going to find the Weapon. And if I don't, I'm going to torture you," pointing at Buffy, "her mommy, until the Weapon gives herself up."

Buffy purposely resisted taking Seo's hand, this time. "You'll never find her."

"Of course, the moment I do find her, I've got a goldmine," said the First, continuing to pace. "A child, trapped in a prison she didn't deserve for 98 years. Finding out that she's not human. Doesn't actually exist. Was supposed to die. Was actually created as a weapon to kill someone who was fabled to be unkillable." It grinned. "It's got to be destructive-angst central in her brain, right now."

"A weapon to kill someone unkillable?" Buffy asked. "Huh?"

The First laughed. Then disappeared.

Buffy turned to Seo. Deciding that this was so not the time to figure out lost secrets of the past. "Okay. So we've got to contact the Doctor," she said. "But we can't contact the Doctor. Because the only way to get in touch with him is to send psychic paper messages, and we're being blocked."

Seo nodded.

Buffy slumped down into one of the chairs they'd used in their barricade. "I mean, we could try to find some place the Doctor's going to be, in the future, and then leave him a note," said Buffy. "If we had access to somewhere like that."

"Or were on Earth, in the right dimension," Seo added.

"But, basically, short of figuring out a way back to Cardiff and stealing Jack's Doctor detector, I'm out of ideas," said Buffy.

Seo said nothing for a long moment.

"You got anything?" Buffy asked.

Seo hesitated.

"I've got the Doctor's mobile number," she offered.

* * *

Buffy had seen the Doctor's companions carrying around modified cell phones that could call anywhere across time and space. But usually, whatever change the Doctor had made to the phone was just a little change. Small enough that you didn't notice he'd done it.

And not the great big monster device that Seo was building on the floor of the room.

So far, the structure was three feet high, but it was growing steadily. Bit by bit, piece by piece, as Seo ducked and dodged and flew around the room, like a little kid building a really tall Lego tower.

"You are sure that you're building something that can call the Doctor?" Buffy said. "I mean, we're not trying to reach across all of time and space and give him a makeover at the same time or anything. Just one cell phone to another cell phone."

"Of course I'm sure!" Seo said, in her most stubborn voice. Which, Buffy was guessing, meant that she wasn't sure at all. "This phone isn't just calling across space and time. It's calling across the dimensional chasm."

"Oh," said Buffy. "Okay, then. And… you know about those?"

"I only spent 98 years trying to escape from something that amounted to a dimensionally complex prison," Seo retorted, bouncing to the other side of the structure. "I'm _great_ with dimensional things. Like rifts and portals and holes and really tiny holes that you can't really see, and those bubbles floating around the inter-dimensional plane with things trapped inside. Dimensional nodes and inter-dimensional nodes and trans-dimensional gateways and multi-dimensional resonances and everything in between!"

Buffy wanted to point out to Seo that, if she knew so much about dimensional things, why had she never gotten out of the Axis until her dad had _let_ her out? But decided to let the kid have her fun.

Buffy had to admit. She'd really missed getting this kind of crazy enthusiastic ramble from the Doctor.

"Besides," said Seo, "I'm building this out of pieces of the Seed of Wonder. And that could get across all sorts of dimensions!"

"So… you're building this," said Buffy, "using something that you don't know how it works?"

Seo looked up at her. Hurt. "Well, I know how _half_ ofthe Seed works."

"And the rest?"

"I'm a good guesser," Seo replied, getting back to wiring up her device.

One foot of building later, and it was done. Ready to test. Buffy's cell phone strapped in, the Trisillicate powering the whole thing, and the scraps of the Seed of Wonder all wired up. Seo crossed her fingers, bit her lower lip, then turned it on.

Buffy's cell gave a dial tone.

Then began to call the number, the touch tones pouring through the speakers Seo had built into the top of the device. Buffy rushed over to it, her hands braced on the nearest speaker/microphone thing, her heart racing.

Please let this work. Please, please, please!

The ringing stopped.

Then a crackle of static, that sounded like it could almost be a, "Hello?"

"Doctor?" Buffy shouted into the microphone. "Doctor, are you there? It's me. Buffy."

There was a wave of static, through which Buffy thought she could almost make out a voice. But couldn't.

"Can you hear me?" Buffy asked. "I'm in trouble. Major trouble. I need help. I'm stuck on this planet, and I don't know where it is. In a dimension I don't know where it is. In some time I don't know about. And I'm being hunted by…"

Another wave of static, and Buffy figured that none of this was getting through.

She turned to Seo. "Can't you make the signal clearer?"

"I can't!" Seo protested, scurrying around the machine. "The connection is being filtered through the Archangel Network! It's just a phone network — it's not that powerful!"

Another burst of static.

"Well, can't you do something?" said Buffy. "I don't think he's picking up any of this!"

Seo ducked down, a pensive frown on her face. "I can up the gain, but Archangel's only got fifteen satellites, so…" She stopped. Then her eyes lit up, and she jumped to her feet, racing around, yanking out wires and reconnecting them. "No, wait! It doesn't!"

"It doesn't?" Buffy asked.

"No; _he's_ using Archangel, too!" said Seo, reconnecting wires and pulling out two switches. "At a different point in time. We don't have fifteen satellites; we've got _thirty_!" She connected in a hairpin she'd found in her pocket. "And that means I can do…!"

And then the machine exploded.


	33. Part II

...

_"Then, one day, Buffy met an alien. A Time Lord. Called the Doctor…"_

...

"Have you ever wondered what your future self is up to?" Martha shouted, as she raced down the streets of feudal Japan, just barely avoiding the swoop of arrows. "This is the third monarch that's wanted to kill us the moment he saw you, because of something you haven't done, yet."

The Doctor blew a breath out of his cheeks. "Well, whatever I do, I suppose I'll probably have a good reason," he mused. He leapt over a feudal Japanese peasant, then ducked as an arrow sailed right through the tips of his spiky brown hair. "Oi!" he shouted over his shoulder. "You could be more grateful to us for saving your island from the Yuggzomborous Zilch of Alpha-5!"

A hurled katana barely missed the Doctor's mid-section, as he and Martha zipped around a corner, towards the TARDIS.

"Everywhere we go, there's aliens trying to end the world!" Martha said. "Is there anywhere in the universe that we could turn up and not find trouble?"

The Doctor shot her a manic grin. "You love it."

Martha wasn't exactly in a position to argue with that. "I'd almost think you looked for…" She stopped talking, as she realized her mobile was ringing. "Hang on. Probably Mum." And she really had to stop hanging up on her mum. One of these days, she was going to go home, and her mum would be furious at her.

She answered the call.

"Mum?" she asked.

All she heard on the other end of the phone was a wave of static. And something that sounded a little like a voice.

Martha checked the display. Caller ID blank. She held the phone up to her ear. "Who is this?"

Another wave of static. This time much longer. The voice was indistinct, but whoever it was sounded desperate. Scared. Martha thought she caught the word, 'help'.

The Doctor, glancing back at her over his shoulder, looked highly curious. Like he was only seconds away from snatching up the phone and scanning it — complete with sonic and brainy specs — to figure out what was going on.

"Look, I don't know how you got this number," said Martha, "but whoever you are, if you need help, I can help you. I've got this friend, right? He's called the Doctor. We can help you with whatever's going on. But you have to speak up and tell us where you are."

There was a soft hum of static on the other end, and Martha figured whoever it was was probably screwing with the controls. Or finding a better reception spot.

The Doctor grinned at her. "Me? Looking for trouble? When it phones you up to make an appointment?"

Martha only just managed to sidestep out of the way of another arrow, phone still pressed to her ear. "It's probably just Leo," she told him. Then, into the phone, "Leo, if this is you, I can't talk, now. But I'm sure, whatever it is, it's not the end of the world."

Still, nothing.

"Well, maybe they…" Martha started. But she didn't have time to finish.

Because the next thing Martha knew, a feeling came over her, like she was being yanked by a string, across the feudal Japanese street — no, _into_ the street, into the whole world — and she couldn't hold on, even as the Doctor shouted for her, rushed towards her, tried to catch her. She was flying, pulled through the inside of the world and the inside of the universe. Mashed up and scattered and then pulled back again, and the first second she could think, she realized…

She was no longer in feudal Japan.

Not even close.

Martha found herself in the middle of a small room. A very smoky, small stone room. Her mobile still in her hand.

And people were coughing, a short ways away.

Martha swatted the smoke away from her face. No idea where she was. When she was. Kidnapped by people she didn't know using a telephone call that hadn't completely gone through.

She looked around for something to defend herself with.

"Whoever you are," Martha called, through the smoke, picking up a blasted apart wooden chair leg, "you'd better put me back before the Doctor finds you. Or you're going to be really, really sorry!"

A small voice asked something, although the words were covered up by the sound of a sparking bit of machinery, somewhere nearby.

A sigh. "No, that's not the Doctor," came a familiar sounding voice. "That's Martha. And the reason she's sounding clearer is because she's right here."

A shape emerged in the slowly fading smoke. A shape that Martha recognized, from a trip she'd taken only a week ago.

"I know you!" she said, dropping the chair leg. "You're… you're Buffy Summers. From Sunnydale."

"Yeah, basically," said Buffy. She waved at the smoke around them. "Sorry about this. We were trying to call the Doctor, but we wound up… teleporting you here, instead. Somehow." She turned back to the piece of machinery that had appeared from the smoke. "I told you I didn't think it was supposed to look this complicated! You didn't build a phone thing. You built a teleport."

"Teleport?!" cried a voice from the other end of the machine. "I didn't build a teleport! I built an inter-dimensional mobile phone extender. And it worked perfectly!"

"Uh-huh," said Buffy. "Right until the moment it blew up."

"Well… well… that had nothing to do with my machine!" the voice replied. "My machine was perfect. Brilliant! Ingenious. It did exactly what it was supposed to do! It's the Archangel Network that malfunctioned. Not my machine." The smoke cleared, revealing the silhouette of a short figure, bouncing on her toes as she squinted at the machine. "I'm 95 percent sure. Well, 70. 62. Almost 40 percent sure it had nothing to do with me!"

"Oh, my God," said Martha, as the smoke cleared. And she saw who was standing there, checking out the machine. And who the girl looked, sounded, and acted like.

"Yep," said Buffy. "That's basically what I said, when she first woke up."

* * *

Martha had disappeared.

No rhyme, no reason, no nothing. Just phone call, and then, pop! Gone!

Now the Doctor was scrambling around his TARDIS, frantically connecting and disconnecting circuits, tuning into the exact frequency wavelength that had been used to snatch Martha away. It was… extra dimensional. Well, sort of. A bit. Extra-dimensional-ish. Well, maybe a bit more than ish. But still ish-ish.

The Doctor stopped by the monitor. Craned his neck to the side, absorbing the data written on the screen. Then grinned.

"Oh, a slanted dimension to our own, travelling along its intersection point!" he cried. Then flipped some levers, and turned some dials on the console. "Whoever you are, you're almost as clever as me!"

He shoved his foot across the central console, to flip another switch with the sole of his shoe, as he pulled down the dematerialization lever.

"But not quite!" he added, as the ship took off.

* * *

"He's on his way," said the Supreme Councilor. "There is nothing we can do to stop it. The events have been set in motion."

"But that's impossible," said Henadraia. "Our psychic block should have redirected the signal away from the Doctor, and straight to—"

"Straight to the Embarrassment," said Ezixil. Looking at the trapped entity. And shaking his head.

"Then the Embarrassment has done something," Vaya hypothesized. "He loved Seosyrae. He would have given the child some method to contact the Doctor that would use our psychic block to his own advantage."

"The mobile number is Martha Jones'," said Laom. "The signal would not trip our block if it was directed at her, instead of the Doctor. Contacting Martha Jones using the Archangel Network tapped into the power of a paradox, whilst a paradox machine was idling nearby."

They all looked back at the Embarrassment. Disgust written across their features.

"The soul of humanity," sighed Henadraia. "That can love a child so much. Take such measures to keep her alive. How embarrassing."

"We could still redirect the Doctor," said Talcon. "Make sure he stays away."

Andor stepped forwards, meekly offering his counsel. "With all due respect, you cannot," he said. "Martha Jones has been transported. I know what the Doctor is like, when his companions are threatened. We could delay him a thousand years, but we'd never be able to stop him from reaching his intended destination."

"At any rate, it doesn't matter," said Vaya. "If the Doctor's involved, we cannot intervene. So says the contract."

"Oh, forget the contract!" shouted Henadraia. She pointed at their captive. "The Embarrassment has been neutralized. The Weapon is at large. The Beast of Krop Tor has nearly uncovered it. And the Slayer — our most reliable warrior — has turned against us. Death is here, death for all!" She grabbed up the contract from Laom, and ripped it apart. "The contract is finished. Forever."

Supreme Councilor Laom took this in, thoughtfully. "In that case, this could work to our advantage," he said. "You have seen what happens when _we_ attempt to destroy Seosyrae. Even if we could retrieve her, she would simply use the energy to transport herself, again."

"And the carnage that transportation carries in its wake could be even more devastating than it was this time," Ezixil said, looking around at the damage she had caused. "Far, far more devastating."

"But if the Doctor were to kill her," said Supreme Councilor Laom, "she would never risk hurting him to stop him. If the Doctor killed her, she'd let him."

The others considered this, interested.

Andor seemed less than enthusiastic.

"He is a primitive," Henadraia reminded them. "One of the lower dimensional beings."

"He is a lower dimensional being," said Supreme Councilor Laom. "But an enlightened one. His race once ruled this universe for good. We must remember that. The Doctor sees farther and understands clearer than any other lower dimensional being. And he can divorce himself from the sentimental human emotions that have infected our Slayer."

"I don't think this is wise," said Andor.

"The real question is — would the Doctor do it?" asked Talcon. "Would he destroy someone who so resembles his own kin?"

"He destroyed his own kin to save the universe before," said Supreme Councilor Laom. "The answer is simple. If the Doctor believes he _must_ destroy Seosyrae, then he will. However much it displeases him to do so."

Andor still seemed hesitant. "I don't think…"

"There can be no argument," Ezixil scolded Andor. "You know the consequences of letting the Weapon go free."

Andor nodded, and gave a military salute. "I will redirect the Doctor's vehicle here. Let you present your case to him." Then turned, marching off to arrange it. As he muttered beneath his breath, "I only hope you know what you're doing."

* * *

The TARDIS jolted and bucked, as it toppled through the dimensional barriers within the vortex. The Doctor adjusted a few knobs and switches and levers. "Steady," he said. Another heave, and the Doctor flipped something else. "Steady, old girl."

Then a shake that threw the Doctor to the floor, followed by the slam of a crashed materialization. The Doctor peeled himself up off the floor, catching his breath.

The TARDIS console was smoking and sparking, giving a sick groan.

"There we go," he said to his smoldering TARDIS control console. He adjusted his tie. "Easy peasy. What did I say?"

Then marched out of the doors, to see what awaited him outside.

* * *

Buffy had been trying to explain to Martha exactly what had been going on. And why they were there. And who or what Seo was. And why they needed the Doctor's help.

"…and then she said that actually, she could tap into Archangel twice, across two different points in time, and wind up with thirty satellites," Buffy said. "And then it blew up."

Martha seemed impressed. She looked over at Seo. "You blew up Archangel?"

Seo looked defensive. "No!" she said, her hands on the top of her constructed machine. "My machine was perfect. _Archangel_ blew up _me_!"

"That's Seo-speak for 'yes'," Buffy translated. "'I blew up the Archangel Network.'"

"I didn't—!" Seo started.

"Blowing things up," said Martha, with a laugh. "Like father like daughter."

Buffy crossed her arms. "Excuse me?" she said. "You're talking to Miss 'Blew Up Her Own High School' over here!"

"But the machine didn't destroy the Archangel—!" Seo tried.

"All right, like _parents_ , like daughter," Martha amended. "Blew up your own high school?"

"Giant snake monster," Buffy explained.

Martha nodded. "Oh, well, of course."

"You don't understand!" said Seo. "Archangel didn't blow up, because it—"

"It's amazing how times change," Buffy remarked, looking at Seo with a fond reminiscence in her eyes. "When I was her age, I was blowing up high schools and shopping malls and gyms. And, now, she's blowing up vast intercontinental cell phone networks!"

"For the last time, I didn't blow up the Archangel Network!" Seo shouted. "And you've never been my age! I'm 71 years older than you!"

Buffy turned to Martha, with a little sniff. "They grow up so fast."


	34. Chapter 34

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In "the Bringer of Death", I have a scene that takes place between the First and the Embarrassment, in which the Embarrassment completely blows up about what the First et all have allowed to happen to the Doctor. Resulting in this particular exchange of dialogue:
> 
> _"I'm sick and tired of you and your games," snapped [the Embarrassment]. "This ends here."_
> 
> _The First laughed. "You honestly believe you can do anything against us?" it replied. "You've tried that already, and failed. How long did they lock you away, for trying that, last time? Oh, yeah. Three million years. Three million years, locked away in a prison that was basically a living hell."_
> 
> I just wanted to draw your attention to this, because, in the chapter below, the Doctor mentions that the Embarrassment is currently imprisoned in a way that would hold for millions of years, and, earlier in this story, the PTB had claimed that this was the Embarrassment's "second incarceration", which means they'd done this to him before.
> 
> The above section is talking about the "before".

The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS into a vast, infinite inter-dimensional plane. Glancing around.

"Martha?" he called.

His eyes fell on a long, icy-looking tube, just ahead of him. He closed the door to the TARDIS, and advanced, slowly. Peering at the face that was trapped inside the tube.

A face that looked precisely the way he had, before his regeneration.

The Doctor thrust his hands into his pockets. "Well," he remarked. "That's a bit ominous."

Particularly because he couldn't remember ever having been here before. And he was fairly certain that, even if he had, this sort of dimensionally variable stasis field would do exactly squat in the way of containing him. This was the sort of field he'd expect to restrain an Eternal. One of the unspeakably powerful entities he'd encountered in his earlier incarnations, before they'd fled the Time War and left this reality entirely.

"Doctor," came a voice, behind him. "We welcome you."

The Doctor turned. A figure had emerged behind him, a tall, faintly glowing man attired in ceremonial garb. Pan-dimensional entity, then.

"Really?" the Doctor asked him. "Bit odd. Welcome me. Didn't welcome him." Nodding back at the previous incarnation trapped in the dimensional prison.

"He isn't you," said the man, with a grand gesture. One that drew attention, specifically, to the ceremonial insignia on his robe, inscribed with the word, 'Supreme'. Head honcho, then. Big cheese. Man-in-charge.

(Blimey, he was full of himself!)

"Yes, could see that," the Doctor agreed. His eyes flicked back to the prison. "Dimensional prison designed to catch a pan-dimensional creature in a small fraction of tween-space between two alternating dimensional fields. Brilliant piece of engineering. Doesn't explain why he looks like me, though." A frown passed across the Doctor's face. Then he wiped it off, and turned back to the man in the ceremonial attire.

"Still!" said the Doctor. "First things first. I'm the Doctor." He waved. "Hello! And what I want to know is…" His eyes narrowed, his voice slipped into a dark tone that indicated threat. "What have you done with Martha Jones?"

"I am Supreme Councilor Laom, leader and ruler of the Powers that Be," the man introduced. "And your companion is not here."

Powers that Be. Powers that Be? Powers that Be. Hm… never heard that one, before. Least, not in a pan-dimensional context.

"You have not heard of us," said Supreme Councilor Pompous-Bloke. "That is to be expected. Until recently, we have not been allowed to affect your lives in any way. You have been the one creature, in all the cosmos, separate from the Balance between Good and Evil."

The Doctor blinked. "Sorry, I'm… what?"

"But now that the contract has ended," said the Supreme Councilor, "we offer you the chance to join us. Join our army. Work for the forces of good, the powers of light."

"No, no, wait a tic," the Doctor said. "Separate from… the Balance? Between good and evil? Really?" He scratched the back of his neck. "Didn't know that was possible."

"We control all," said the Supreme Councilor. "We can make it possible."

The Doctor sighed. Completely full of it. Like he'd thought. The Doctor shoved the matter aside, to muse over later, and got back to the reason he was here. "Right. So. Martha Jones. My companion. She would be—?"

"Abducted by a criminal," said the Supreme Councilor. "A Weapon who could cause the destruction of everything and everyone. We are hunting this Weapon, as well."

"And — no, don't tell me," said the Doctor. "You redirected my TARDIS here because you want me to find your… weapon for you. While I'm picking up Martha."

"The Weapon must be destroyed," said the Supreme Councilor. "But for all our immense power, she has slipped out of our grasp. She has escaped into a slanted side-dimension, which intersects your own."

"Ah," said the Doctor. "You mean your weapon's fallen into a crack in reality, and your fingers are too large to pluck her out." He leapt backwards, sonic out, towards the dimensional prison. "Because a slanted side-dimension — bit like your prison, here!" He scanned the sonic along the outside of the prison, as he rambled. "Twists you about, the moment you enter it, so that you can't quite get a hold. Locks you in a sort of multi-dimensional feedback…" He paused, as he examined the readings off the sonic screwdriver.

Then looked up at the Supreme Councilor.

"He's conscious, in there," the Doctor said. Pointed back to the imprisoned man. "You've trapped him like a fly in amber, frozen him solid so he can't so much as move for millions of years, and you've left him _conscious_?!"

"Unfortunate," the Supreme Councilor sighed. "But necessary."

The Doctor stuck his sonic back in his pocket, and strolled towards the Supreme Councilor. "Unfortunate?" he asked. "It's barbarism, plain and simple. And you call yourselves the forces of good! What crime could he possibly have committed to deserve that? What could he possibly have done to warrant that sort of—?"

"It is necessary," shouted the Supreme Councilor, in a great big boomy voice that shook through the entire chamber, and toppled the Doctor to the ground.

He dragged himself up, wincing. "I'd forgotten how you pan-dimensional types liked doing that." He popped back to his feet, and brushed off his pinstripe suit, as if it had gotten dusty in the fall. Which, of course, it hadn't. Then looked back at the Supreme Councilor. "Who is he? And who are you lot, for that matter?"

"We are the Powers that Be," the Supreme Councilor informed him. "The ultimate force of good across the universe. The power of light to fight off the darkness. The guiding hand to push the lesser races forward, while never—"

"Interfering directly, yeah, yeah," the Doctor dismissed. "Heard that particular mantra before, thanks. And from some other people I didn't necessarily agree with on a whole lot. Which means!" Pointing at the Supreme Councilor. " _You're_ the Powers that Be, and _he_ …" pointing his thumb at the trapped entity, "…is your renegade."

"He harbored the Weapon, pulled her from her world, tried to use her against us," the Supreme Councilor explained. "For revenge. When we came to apprehend him for his crimes, he unleashed the Weapon onto the larger universe."

The Doctor quirked an eyebrow, but said nothing.

"The Weapon led to the complete destruction of her reality," the Supreme Councilor explained, "and has begun to completely destroy your own. She is known as Death. The End of All. The Coming of Darkness. The Vanquisher of Life."

And, for some reason, was harbored by a pan-dimensional being sporting the Doctor's previous face. Which was odd, to say the least.

"She was forged in darkness, desperation, terror, and ignorance," the Supreme Councilor continued. "Her powers are endless. Her threat unimaginable. All wish to claim her. All wish to use her. She will pull apart the threads of reality, and we — mighty, all powerful, all knowing as we are — would be unable to stop it."

The Doctor ran a hand through his hair. "Blimey, you really are full of yourself, aren't you?" Then he dropped his hands, and shrugged. "But, well. Suppose I can't just let the universe fall apart." He spun around, back towards his TARDIS, coattails flying behind him. "So! Why don't you just point me in the right direction, and I'll…" He stopped, by the prison. Put his hand out, to touch the edges. Feel the dimensional walls tingle beneath his palm. "Not sure why you chose _that_ face," he muttered to the trapped entity. "Should have shown up as a dandy with curly white hair and a velvet opera cape."

"The coordinates will be fed into your machine, Doctor," the Supreme Councilor replied.

The Doctor glanced back at the Supreme Councilor, gave a cheery smile and a wave, then bound into the TARDIS, and dematerialized.

The Supreme Councilor watched the time ship depart.

"He is not with us," said the Second Councilor Henadraia, as she approached. "I could read it in his mind."

"Nor is he against us," Laom replied. "He shows hesitation. Caution. But also much wisdom. When he sees what the Weapon Seosyrae can do, he will understand our position. He will side with us."

"He showed far too much interest and sympathy towards the Embarrassment," said Henadraia. "Andor is correct. The Doctor will not kill Seosyrae. He will try to find another way."

"And if he finds it, and it is to our liking, then we will accept it," said Laom, "and let Seosyrae go free."

"He is too curious for his own good," said Henadraia. "I don't trust him. He could go digging for answers. Answers the Slayer would be able to provide. And he might not like what he finds."

Laom turned to their captive. His eyes thoughtful. Pondering.

"You know what the Doctor might do," said Henadraia. "Might undo."

"In which case we tell him," said Laom, "who the Embarrassment really is. And why it needs to be kept conscious."

* * *

The Doctor materialized on the surface of a planet he knew far too well. A planet he'd visited, in its own future.

Admittedly, never in this twisted, slanted dimension.

"Peladon!" he cried, as the doors to his ship clicked shut behind him.

He glanced around the throne room, where he'd materialized. Cruder and less advanced technologically than the last time he'd visited, but he supposed that was to be expected. No people about, though. Well, not unless you counted the patter of footsteps rushing towards him, shouts indistinct and echoing through the stone halls.

Guards, probably. Or something worse, if Peladonians didn't exist in this particular dimension of space-time.

The door burst open, and into the room flew…

"Martha Jones!" the Doctor cried, a grin lighting up his face. Apparently uninjured, and looking entirely fine. He rushed forward, and swooped her up into a hug. "Brilliant!"

"You took your time!" Martha said into his shoulder.

Another rush of footsteps, which stopped by the door. "Oh, thank God," said a very familiar voice. "You need a bat-signal or something. It's basically impossible to get in touch with you."

The Doctor, disengaging himself from the hug, stared at the person who'd just entered the room. Someone he'd honestly never expected to see on the planet Peladon, in another dimension. "Elizabeth?"

An older, wiser, more battle-worn Buffy than the last time he'd seen her, admittedly. But still Buffy nonetheless.

"What are you doing…? No, wait, I can guess," the Doctor said.

"Uh, actually, you really _can't_ ," Buffy corrected.

"Whatever this 'Weapon' is, you're after it, too," the Doctor continued. "Roped in by these so-called 'Powers that Be'. And…"

He stopped. Froze. As the girl poked her head into the room, hesitantly making her way over to Buffy. A girl with Buffy's blond hair, Buffy's nose, Buffy's mouth, the shape of Buffy's face, but his own eyes, his own eyebrows, his own freckles.

The girl, without thinking, gave him a Doctor-style wave.

The Doctor's jaw dropped open.

"What?!" he said.

Buffy draped her arm over the girl's shoulders. "Allow me to introduce you," she said, "to our 'Weapon'."

"What?!" the Doctor cried.


	35. Chapter 35

It took a while to get through the whole story. Explain to the Doctor all Buffy knew about Seo's situation — or at least, everything she'd worked out. She kept hoping Seo would chime in and add things to the account, but… nope! Seo was silent.

In fact, she looked almost timid around the Doctor.

"Right," said the Doctor. "So she isn't actually our…?"

"She is, but not from this reality," Buffy said.

"Which means that, in the future, you and I don't…?"

Buffy gave him a pointed look. "It's your future. You find out."

This didn't seem to make the Doctor any happier. He ran a hand down his face, with a long sigh. Then turned to Seo.

"So the real question is," the Doctor continued, "who created you, and how is it that you still seem to believe you were 'born'?" He leaned down, so he was eye-to-eye with her, and added, in a voice barely above a whisper, "Because I happen to know what a Gallifreyan child should look like. And she shouldn't look like you."

Seo's eyes flicked up to Buffy, hesitantly. Then back to the Doctor. "I… was created," she admitted. "By people who didn't know what they were doing. Created the way they thought Gallifreyan children would be, without knowing any better."

"Were you, now?" the Doctor mused. He tapped his sonic against his lips. "Created for what purpose? What cause? Those Powers that Be seem to believe that you were designed to destroy everything."

Seo hesitated. "Not everything," she said. "I was… I mean…" She paused, thinking.

"It's all right," the Doctor soothed. "I can help. Promise. Just tell me what happened."

Buffy rolled her eyes. Yeah, like she hadn't tried _that_ one before.

"I can't," Seo told him. She seemed desperate. "It's… just… the you that was my father. My real father. It's a you that… hasn't happened yet. Your future."

The Doctor gritted his teeth. "Ooh, this could start getting complicated." He thought a moment longer, letting it all run through his mind. "All right, then," he said. "Let's go with something a bit easier. If you're all light and goodness and warm fuzzy puppies, why are these Powers that Be so afraid of you?"

"Because I can kill them," said Seo.

The Doctor frowned. Scratched his head. "Sorry, you can what?"

"I can kill the unkillable," Seo said. "That's why they're afraid of me. Not because I can destroy the universe. Because I can destroy _them_." She faltered. "At least, I don't think I can destroy the universe. Not this universe."

"And you'd be able to work out how to kill these… pan dimensional beings?" the Doctor asked her.

Seo shrugged. "It's… an automatic process," she said. "In my mind. I don't know why it's there, or how to stop it. But every time I meet someone, every time I see something, every time I go somewhere new, my mind starts trying to work out… how to destroy it."

The Doctor seemed mildly startled by this. "What, really?"

"I…" Seo shuffled a little. "I can't get rid of the instinct. But the instinct's just to figure it all out, not to actually kill anything. So I thought, maybe I could… turn it into an asset. Use it to predict how enemies will strike. Protect others from attacks before they happen." She glanced at Buffy. "I tried to do that back on Earth. But… I'm not very good at it, yet."

The alarm fell from the Doctor's face, replaced by a gentle grin. Then in a fluid motion, he scanned her with his sonic. Checked the readings.

The Doctor blinked at the display. Hit the sonic against his hand. Tried again. Checked the readings. Shook his head.

Seo plucked the instrument out of his hands, opened it up, made a few small adjustments, then handed it back. The Doctor analyzed her work, raised an eyebrow at her.

"Thank you," he said.

A small blush spread across Seo's cheeks.

The Doctor scanned her using the new settings she'd put into the sonic. Checked the results. "Not a very _clear_ reading," he muttered, "but, well, at least it's something."

Then he jumped back to his feet, and began pacing the room.

"Right!" he said. "Good news and bad news. Bad news!" He pointed at Seo. "There's some anomaly in your genetic code that seems to have been designed to feed off something in the universe. Something that _would_ cause its complete collapse." He grinned. "Good news! The something it's feeding off of is in _your_ universe. _Your_ reality. Which is good for us, because you've been divorced from it. Your personal timeline completely severed from your home reality. No problems with breaking quarantine, no problems with extraneous time, no problems with odd energy resonances inside your genetic code. Which means, so long as you never return to your reality, the anomalous unstable energy — whatever it may be — should be completely dormant."

"I know," said Seo.

"But it's not," said Buffy. "She's giving off some… huge amount of energy, that she can't control. This silver stuff."

"Ah, yes, but that's something different, entirely!" the Doctor said. "That's not in her genetic code. That's in her regenerative energy. Hence, something different. Something I haven't quite worked out, yet." He stopped, thinking it over. Then turned to Buffy. "And these Powers that Be. They're an odd sort. Haven't worked them out, yet, either."

"What's there to work out?" said Buffy. "They want to kill Seo because they're paranoid she can kill them."

"No, no, no, no, no!" the Doctor dismissed. "They purposely directed me to their HQ when I tried to pop in here. Tried to warn me. They wouldn't have done that if they had a purely selfish motive. They'd have known I wouldn't buy it."

"Maybe they were trying to trick you," Martha suggested.

"Nah," said the Doctor. "Not how beings like that are supposed to work. Least, not the good ones. Omniscient? Yes. But entirely lacking in imagination. Lies, tricks, deceit — that'd be hard for them, without help from us mere mortals. No, if they told me the universe was going to end, they meant it."

Buffy looked over at Seo. Then back at the Doctor. "You think this has something to do with the First? What could happen if it took control of Seo and that silver stuff?"

"Nope," the Doctor dismissed. "Your friend Toby's just as terrified as all the others. He nearly gave up the Earth on the condition I destroyed any potential for Seo's existence. Although — doubtful even wiping you out of time would have eliminated her, way she is, now."

Oh. The whole… wiping Buffy out of time thing. Yeah. Because the First must have thought… maybe if Buffy never existed, there'd be no probability for Seo to ever exist. Not even a timeline to quarantine.

Although, apparently, the First had been wrong.

"The Powers that Be are pan-dimensional entities representing the concept of 'good'," the Doctor said. "Or, least, that's what they should be. Emotionless, completely logical, entirely rational embodiments of 'good'. Problem is… they're not." He ran a hand through his hair. "And why don't they want your life to have any 'happy endings'?"

"I told you," said Buffy. "That Super-Powerful Doctor-Protecting Entity was the one who…"

"Signed a contract," the Doctor agreed, "in which the Powers that Be couldn't touch me, in exchange for his quarantining all your 'happy endings'. And since, according to you, he seemed fairly upset over his actions in hindsight, I'm guessing quarantining you wasn't his idea. That was what he gave up, in the negotiations."

"They said he'd been imprisoned before," Seo put in. "They said this was the 'second incarceration.'"

"Aha!" said the Doctor. "See? I was right. They'd wanted him to do something to you. He refused. They locked him up. When he came out, they asked him again, and he agreed, but with conditions."

Yeah, that wasn't helping. Telling Buffy that the good guys she'd been fighting for had actually been the ones to purposely ruin her life — that wasn't exactly making her feel a whole lot better.

"What does that even mean?" Martha asked. "'Happy Endings?' You can't usually stick a 'happily ever after' on people's lives."

"Another good point," the Doctor added.

"And if these 'Powers that Be' are completely good," Martha continued, "why were they responsible for torturing you?"

"And again!" the Doctor said. "You really are full of good points, today, aren't you?"

Everyone waited for the Doctor to answer these questions. But it appeared he didn't know the answers any more than the rest of them.

The Doctor clapped his hands. "Right! Well, then. Won't find any answers hanging about on Peladon. Need to find some way to break out of this dimension and transport ourselves to…" He stopped. Then turned back to Seo. "How'd you manage to bring Martha here, anyways?"

"I built a machine," said Seo.

The Doctor grinned. "Machine. Love machines. Tell me, Seo — it is Seo, yes? Tell me, Seo, where is this machine of yours?"

"It's this way," said Seo, leading him forward.

Buffy rushed to catch up to the Doctor, as they followed Seo out of the room. "Her name," she said, in a low voice, "Seo. Does that hold any… significance for you?"

The Doctor glanced over at Buffy. "No, should it?"

"Well, according to Seo," said Buffy, "you gave it to her."

The Doctor frowned. Thinking this over. Then, catching up to Seo, hands in his pockets, said, "Your name. Seo."

"It's not my name," said Seo. "And it's not Seo. It's… Seosyrae."

A sudden look of complete comprehension flooded the Doctor's features. "Ah," he said. "That makes more sense."

"It does?" Buffy asked, as they entered the room with the machine. "Is it, like, from your own language or something?"

"Naturally," the Doctor said. Then grinned, as he saw the machine in the center of the room. Raced towards it. "Oh, but that's just… that's…" He shoved his brainy specs onto his nose, and squinted at it. "That's brilliant!"

"Yeah, except for the part where it doesn't do what it's supposed to," Buffy said.

"And then blows up," Martha added.

Seo shuffled from foot to foot. "Do… you know what I did wrong?" she asked the Doctor.

He was ducked down by the machine, shining his sonic around like a flashlight, illuminating bits of it. "Not a clue," he admitted. "But, well, that's not surprising. Never was very good at this sort of multi-dimensional geometry." He paused, tapping the sonic against his lips. "Which is interesting. Because you seem to have mastered it to an astounding level."

"Doctor, the machine blew up," said Buffy. "It doesn't—"

"Well, thing is, it _does_ ," the Doctor cut in. "Should have worked perfectly. Which is odd. Because this machine uses technology so ancient, it defies every law of universal physics." He glanced at Seo. "And there's no way someone like you should know how to use technology like that."

"I didn't," said Seo. "I guessed."

The Doctor mused this over in his mind. Then leapt back to his feet, his eyes still fixed on Seo. "Why the second sun?" he asked her.

Seo stepped back, a little startled. "What?"

"Your nickname," the Doctor said. "Seosyrae. Why the _second_ sun?"

"Because the first sun would be 'Miseardae'," Seo retorted. "And my parents weren't cruel enough to call me something that sounds like 'miserable day'."

The Doctor absorbed this. Then seemed to accept it. "Ah, well," he said, ducking back down to analyze the machine again. "Time Lords never did like dawn much."

Buffy started, violently, at the Doctor's words. "What?"

"Her nickname," the Doctor explained, without looking up from his work. "'Seosyrae'. Gallifreyan. Means 'the Dawning of the Second Sun.'"

Buffy felt her heart beat a little faster. She looked over at Seo, who was very pointedly looking away, her cheeks turning red. And Buffy remembered… remembered… the way Seo had reacted, when she'd first heard… Dawn's name.

"For a moment, thought she was a twin," the Doctor explained. "One in a pair of dimensional nodes. Constructed inside an organic vessel as a way to better manipulate the dimensional barriers. But, well, suppose she can't be."

Seo's dimensional obsession… the way she'd known about Glory… the way she'd burst out laughing when Buffy asked if she wanted to hurt or kill Dawn Summers… the crush on Xander, the kleptomania, the existential crises, the way she loved to run away…

…her accidentally splitting open the dimensional barriers between universes, when she came through the void…

"After all, no way to stabilize an inter-dimensional portal, not with only one of her," the Doctor continued. "Need at least two dimensional nodes and a Gallifreyan consciousness to control that. And even then — pretty risky."

"What? Oh, uh, yeah, sure, whatever you just said," said Buffy.

It was all starting to make sense. So much sense. Way, way too much sense.

"Excuse me, a minute," said Buffy, grabbing Seo by the arm and dragging her out of the room. Slamming the door shut behind them. Going somewhere she knew the Doctor wouldn't be able to hear.

Seo still wouldn't look at her.

"Seo," said Buffy, softly. "Your father. He called you Seosyrae for a reason, didn't he?"

Seo bit her lower lip.

"Because your real name," said Buffy, "is Dawn Summers."


	36. Chapter 36

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look back at "Your Nature". That entire thing is really just the Embarrassment trying to tell Buffy about Seo, without the PTB noticing.

"Dawn Marie Summers," Seo confirmed. "The Key. The Monks' creation. Glory's prize. Me." She looked down at the ground. "I was a baby, when it happened. You killed yourself to save my life."

Buffy stared at her. Not really sure what to say.

"But it didn't help," Seo continued. "My world was already unstable. The portal destabilized it further. By the time you closed it, the damage had already been done. Simply closing the portal wasn't enough. The whole universe just kind of… shattered apart." She swallowed, hard. "I remember that."

"Seo, what world are you from?" Buffy asked her. "What decision changed, to cause your reality?"

"The Facksisil of Balime," said Seo.

Buffy remembered. The Doctor had shown up in Sunnydale, drained of all his memories. By the end of the adventure, Buffy had been faced with a choice.

Give the Doctor back his memories? Or leave him happy?

"I chose not to give his memories back," said Buffy. "In your world."

Seo nodded.

"But I thought the Doctor-Protecting-Super-Entity only added the Facksisil of Balime thing into my personal history," said Buffy, "so I'd have a copy of the Doctor's memories when he was trapped in the Initiative. If he stuck around…"

"He didn't get trapped in the Initiative, in my world," Seo agreed. "My world was based on a paradox. That's why it shattered, at the end." She gave a small shrug. "But… it wasn't _that_ big a paradox. It was stable enough that my world remained normal for about a year and a half. That's why I'm here."

Buffy absorbed this with a slow nod.

"In my world, my father stayed in Sunnydale," Seo said. "With you. And no memories. You two got together. Romantically. But half a world away, Glory was going after the Key. Zeroing in on the Monks of the Order of Dagon. They needed to disguise the Key — but my father was in Sunnydale. My father, the Time Lord. The one completely outside of reality."

The one non-crazy person who'd been able to see Dawn for what she really was, the moment she appeared in Sunnydale. The one person Buffy trusted more than anyone else. The one person Glory knew could see exactly who the Key was. And if the Doctor had no memories, and didn't know anything about Glory, the Monks, or the Key to Time…

Oh.

"The Monks knew he'd be able to see you, if he was outside of reality," said Buffy. "So they incorporated him into the reality." She looked at the child in front of her — the child who was half-Doctor, half-Buffy. The child the Doctor, even in this reality, _hadn't_ realized was the Key. "By turning the Key into _you_."

Seo nodded. Her fists clenched by her sides. "I hate those Monks."

"They made you!" said Buffy.

"They designed me to be a kid," said Seo. "And they designed your sister to be a kid. They were always planning to make the Key a kid. I hate people who mess with kids." She gritted her teeth. "Besides. They made my father's life a living hell."

"So why are you a 'weapon'?" Buffy asked. "Dawn — my sister — she's not a weapon. She's just a Key."

"Because… the Monks didn't know what they were doing, when they made me," Seo admitted. "Didn't know how Gallifreyans worked, or were even supposed to be constructed. So they didn't just embed the Key into my DNA, like they should have. They embedded it into my biodata pattern. The Key isn't just a part of this incarnation. It's a part of _me_. Across every regeneration, I will always be the Key. And I don't think you're supposed to do that."

If Seo said so. Buffy didn't know.

"It led to some weird things happening, when they started creating me," said Seo. "Dimensional anomalies, for example. Higher dimensional beings couldn't see me — like I didn't exist."

"I thought people couldn't see you because you were from the Axis, and not the real world," Buffy said.

"Being extracted from the Axis amplified the effect," Seo replied. "But it didn't cause it. I was always a little like that. Always kind of… hard for machines to read. Hard for higher dimensional entities to find. I wasn't nearly invisible, like I am, now. But Glory couldn't see me if I didn't call attention to myself."

"That sounds useful," said Buffy.

"You'd think," said Seo. "But it inspired the Monks to go further. They began to realize how they could manipulate other things in my biodata, to make me Glory-style strong, or make my mind impossible for higher dimensional beings to read. And then they thought… why just create a Key that can hide? Why not create a Key that can fight back?"

Because the Monks had been trying to figure out some way to use the Key's energy for good. In Buffy's reality, they'd been killed before they'd hit upon the answer. In Seo's world… the answer had been Seo.

"You said your purpose was to kill someone," said Buffy. "Someone… unkillable. Undefeatable."

"Glory," Seo confirmed.

Which explained why she could punch through the Torchwood cells. Why she'd been able to actually hurt that Andor person, when he'd restrained her. Why the Powers that Be believed she could kill them.

"You're not a weapon designed to kill _people_ ," said Buffy. "You're a weapon designed to kill _gods_."

Seo nodded.

"I guess… the Monks' plan might have worked," she said. "Using me to kill Glory. But they were interrupted, before they finished. My personal timeline factor got jumbled. When I appeared in the world, I was too young. A baby. No, not even that. I wasn't even born yet. You just kind of… appeared nine months pregnant, one day."

Wow. Weird.

Seo looked away. "So… I didn't kill Glory," she said, her voice low. Sad. "I was a troublemaker. An irresponsible, stupid troublemaker. I drew attention to myself, when I should have stayed hidden. And because of that, Glory found me, in the end. Drew my blood. Activated me." A pause, for a few seconds. Then, in a sad, small voice, "And I destroyed the world."

Buffy felt something inside her heart break. Remembering what Seo's dad had said to the Powers that Be — _"Wasn't even a year old, when her world ended. Couldn't have stopped it, even if she'd been older."_

It must have been hard enough for Dawn, knowing that she'd nearly caused the end of the universe. But she, at least, had had the chance to fight back. She, at least, hadn't wound up actually causing the universe to shatter.

And Dawn also hadn't inherited the Doctor's massive guilt complex.

( _"I don't 'fix'. I don't 'repair'. I tear apart. Dismantle. Destroy. That's what I was made to do. It's my purpose. It's all I know."_ )

"It wasn't your fault," Buffy tried.

"Does it matter whose fault it was?" Seo snapped. "I was still what made it happen. I killed everyone. I killed my father. I killed _you_."

Buffy put a hand on Seo's arm. "Seo…"

"I killed you," Seo repeated. "You jumped because of _me_. And my father — he was trying to fix my mistake. Save the world without needing to sacrifice me. That's why he died." Tears shone in her eyes. "I didn't even know who my parents were for most of my life. And the moment I found out, I learned that they were the two people I'd always aspired to be like. And that I killed them. A weapon, who murdered her own parents."

"You didn't—"

"But I did!" Seo insisted. "That's why you gave me to Spike, before you jumped. Had him get me away. It's why you didn't want me to watch you die. Because you knew I was killing you." A tear ran down her cheek. "And then… Spike died, too. And I was all alone, at the end of the world."

In a sea of terrified people. The world shattering around her. Waiting for her parents to rescue her, take her home, tuck her in with her stuffed animals and her blanket — not knowing they were both already dead.

Seo's earliest memory.

Buffy took Seo up into her arms. She could still remember making that decision to jump into the portal. To sacrifice herself to save her sister. But she'd never thought about the guilt that might be involved for someone like Dawn. Going on, forever, knowing that she'd been the reason Buffy had died.

Buffy had never intended to do that. Not to Seo. Not to Dawn.

"You didn't destroy the world," Buffy assured her. The beautiful, impossible girl in her arms. The girl who should have died, but had been saved. The daughter that Buffy would never have. "You didn't kill me. Or the Doctor. Or Spike. Glory did. Not you."

Seo didn't say anything. Didn't even hug back.

And Buffy knew Seo didn't believe her. Because Buffy knew what Seo thought of herself. How she'd manifested her guilt. She'd heard Seo express her own guilt to Giles and the others, over and over again. The guilt over an event she couldn't have prevented — not even if she'd been Dawn's age.

_Maybe I am evil, and I'm trying to warn you._

"You're not evil," Buffy assured Seo.

"Everyone who's ever loved me, ever cared for me, is dead," said Seo. "Or locked up forever. Because of me. How can you say I'm not evil?"

Buffy released her out of the embrace. Held her hand, staring deep into those large brown eyes. Her daughter's eyes.

"I'm here," said Buffy. "Your mother. I came back."

And Seo must have known that. It must have been one of the first things her dad had told her, when she found out her own origins. The assertion that would cause Seo to believe… that all humans could come back to life.

"You're not really my mother," said Seo. She glanced over her shoulder, at the way they'd come. "He's not really my father."

Buffy dropped her head, a laugh passing her lips. "Seo," she said, "you threatened to blow up the Slayer Institution — using a music box — to stop me from hurting a bunch of snake-aliens you didn't know. Who could see what you were. And were actually afraid of you." She looked back up at Seo. "How are you _not_ our daughter?"

Seo didn't have an answer to this.

"Your parents are still alive," Buffy assured her. "I'm here. And the Doctor — he's back there, trying to figure out how to save your life. And you know what? He thinks you're brilliant."

"But what about my _dad_?" Seo whispered.

Buffy wiped a tear off Seo's cheek. Her dad. Not her father, the Doctor, but her dad — the nameless entity who'd saved her life. The one who'd raised her, looked after her, and locked her up for 98 years in order to protect her. The one who'd loved her, as if she'd really been his. The one who was now locked up by the Powers that Be, punished for saving Seo's life.

The one who'd told Buffy that putting Seo's life in danger was the one sacrifice he could never make.

"We'll get him back," said Buffy. "I promise. The Doctor knows what he's doing. We'll make sure that, by the end of this, you're safe and free on Earth, and your dad's back in the Axis where he belongs. Okay?"

Seo's eyes drifted into the distance. Then she nodded.

Buffy smiled at her. "Come on," she said. "We'd better get back to the Doctor before he either blows something up or starts licking things, again."


	37. Chapter 37

The moment Buffy and Seo were far enough out of the room that Martha was sure they couldn't overhear, she snuck over to the Doctor. And asked the question that was most on her mind.

"So… this is what the Face of Boe meant, right?" she asked. "When he said you weren't alone?"

The Doctor froze. His face losing all traces of happiness. His eyes fixed on the machine ahead of him. "No," he said, at last.

Then got back to work, yanking things out of the machine and rearranging them, jumping about and making a mess of what was already pretty messy to begin with.

"Why not?" Martha demanded. "You said it had to be another Time Lord, and Seo—"

"Isn't one," the Doctor replied. He put his foot up on the edge, bracing himself as he yanked at a long red cable.

Martha folded her arms. "Don't tell me you're one of those people who believes in 'pure blood'."

The Doctor looked up at Martha. "Martha, Seo isn't a Time Lord; she's a biological construct created to partially resemble my personality and physiology," he said. The cable snapped off in his hands, and he began running it around the base of the machine. "And her creators couldn't even get _that_ right."

"She seems to act a lot like you," Martha replied.

"Genetically, she's a hodge-podge," the Doctor said, buzzing at a section of the machine with his sonic. "A shambles. Most of the necessary physiological elements are there, yes, but they're all a bit wrong. Off. Mixed up. As if whoever put her together hadn't the slightest notion what they were doing." He reconnected two wires, causing the machine to spark in front of him. "She's not a Time Lord. Not even a Gallifreyan. More like… a botched science experiment." He shook out his fingers. "A dangerous botched science experiment."

"Flattering," said Martha.

"I'm sorry, but that's what she is," said the Doctor, jumping to his feet. "If you don't believe me, try taking a photo of her on your mobile."

Martha remembered what Buffy had told her. "She doesn't show up in photos," said Martha. She frowned. "Isn't even able to see herself in the mirror." She puzzled that over. Then looked at the Doctor. "How does that one work?"

"Her optical receptors are tuned to see a different dimensional frequency than the rest of her," the Doctor replied. "Told you. Hodge-podge." He grabbed one of the speakers, and jerked it off the top, tossing it aside. "It's a wonder she's even alive and breathing to begin with. I can see bits of my other incarnations popping to the surface of her personality — and that's not supposed to happen in Gallifreyan children. Not at all." Muttering under his breath, "I'm surprised she can regenerate."

"And what is this 'regeneration' you all keep talking about?" Martha asked.

The Doctor launched into a whirlwind explanation, as he reconfigured the machine. One Martha could barely keep up with, but managed to understand the gist of.

"None of which explains any of the so-called 'silver stuff' produced when Seo tapped into it," the Doctor concluded. "That's certainly not supposed to happen."

"So you think the reason the Powers that Be think she's so dangerous is because of her… genetic anomalies?" Martha asked. Amending her phrasing to be less insulting as she noticed Seo and Buffy re-entering the room.

"No idea," the Doctor said. "Biological construct like Seo? Hodge-podge. Dangerous botched science experiment. Like I said. Hard to tell what's what, when you're built as shakily… as…" He noticed who'd just entered the room, and scratched the back of his neck. "Rude. Right. Have to stop being rude."

The Doctor's actual daughter or not, it appeared that Seo had inherited the Doctor's sense of 'plastering on emotions she didn't actually feel'. Because while she'd obviously been crying a few seconds earlier, she now planted a perky grin on her face, and pretended she was completely fine.

"She's spent the last two months calling me a shape-shifting, planet-brainwashing demon," Seo offered, gesturing at Buffy.

Buffy's face turned red.

Martha looked between the Doctor and Buffy, both of whom were looking incredibly awkward. "I can't believe you two!" she said.

"Okay, in my defense," said Buffy, "do you know how weird it is having your time traveling Time Lord daughter show up on your doorstep?"

"She's not a Time…" the Doctor started, then seemed to realize he was just digging his foot in, deeper. "Oh, never mind." He went back to rearranging Seo's machine.

"What are you doing?" Seo asked, stepping around to try to peer at his jiggery-pokery.

"Altering your machine," said the Doctor, "to make sure it always does what it accidentally did to Martha. Transport us inter-dimensionally. And back, of course."

"Couldn't we just take the TARDIS?" Buffy asked.

The Doctor's eyes rested on Seo. For a few seconds he said nothing. A hint of suspicion in his corneas. Then grinned back at the rest of them. "Nah, TARDIS can stay here."

If Seo noticed anything, she didn't mention it. Just continued to examine what the Doctor was doing with curious eyes. She reached into her pocket, as if musing something over. Then her eyes lit up, and she beamed.

"Would you like—?" she began, taking something out.

"The answer to your next question is no," the Doctor cut in, ducking behind the machine. "I would not like a Jelly Baby."

Seo frowned in confusion, mouthing the words, 'Jelly Baby?'

"Not like you to turn down sweets," Martha remarked to the Doctor.

The Doctor glanced up at her, as if recalling she was there. "Martha doesn't want a Jelly Baby, either," he said, turning back to his work.

"Oh," said Seo. "Well, can I give her a kiss?"

The Doctor started so violently, he hit his head against the lip of the machine. "What?!"

He looked up, to discover Seo with her hand out, a bunch of Hershey's Kisses in her palm. A completely innocent look plastered across her face, as if she had no idea why the Doctor would possibly find that odd.

Martha cracked up.

"Oh, yes, that's right," said Seo, closing her hand, thinking it over, carefully. "I forgot. _Real_ Time Lords don't call them 'kisses'. You call them 'genetic transfers'."

The Doctor almost hit his head, again.

"What…?! But…?! You…?!" he exclaimed. "How…?!"

"What?" asked Seo, with wide, innocent eyes, as if she had absolutely no idea of the significance of what she just said. "Did I say something wrong?" She then turned to Buffy, and offered her the handful of chocolates. "Do _you_ want a genetic transfer?"

Martha, by this point, was laughing so hard, she could barely breathe.

Buffy took three chocolates, then tossed one to Martha, and one to the Doctor. "I've learned over the last two months," she told them. "Don't get into verbal sparring matches with Seo. She always wins."


	38. Chapter 38

Martha decided she should probably take Seo away for a little while. Leave Buffy and the Doctor to talk a little, in private. Since, it was pretty obvious, they had rather a lot to talk about.

"You like him," Seo said.

Martha wasn't really sure how to react to this. Yes, she liked the Doctor. In a way he definitely wasn't reciprocating. And, yes, when Martha had first seen Seo, there'd been a certain amount of disappointment involved. But since Seo wasn't real… and none of that really happened, in the Doctor's future…

Which led into a whole other lot of awkward topics.

"I…" Seo started, then looked down at the ground, a blush on her cheeks. "I… like someone. Like that. Back on Earth. And he…" She bit her lower lip, her cheeks turning redder. "I don't know if he likes me, back."

Martha glanced back at Seo. That… _hadn't_ been where she'd assumed this particular conversation was headed.

"You fancy someone?" asked Martha. Her curiosity was getting the better of her. "Who?"

"He's just… this… human I know," said Seo. She twisted her foot into the ground. "But he's brave. And heroic. And kind. And… I just... like him. A lot." She looked up at Martha. "What do I do about something like that?"

Martha wasn't exactly sure why Seo was talking to her like _she_ was the romance expert. But apparently, the Doctor's kids were just as clueless about romance as he was.

"Have you tried asking him out on a date?" Martha offered.

Seo opened her mouth to reply, when a loud snarl from their right cut her off. They both turned, to find a huge shadowy figure, towering over them, its eyes blood red and its talons raised. Beside it were a group of black-robed figures with sewn-up patches for eyes.

Martha and Seo looked at one another. Then turned, and tried to run.

The shadowy monster swiped its claws down, snagging one of them on Martha's jean pocket and jerking her through the air. She shouted for help, flailing, trying to break free. Her eyes darting around to look for some way out of this.

There!

A torch, lying against the wall. She grabbed it up, as the monster flung her around again, and swung it so the fire burned his hand.

With a roar, the creature dropped her on the ground.

She hit the stones with a thud that shook through her whole body. Martha cringed, as she got to her hands and knees, making a mental medical checklist. Everything seemed okay. Sore, yes, but okay.

A shout, and a cry. Martha looked up, to find Seo surrounded on all sides by various nasty creatures, shouting at Martha to run — get help, tell the Doctor and Buffy!

Then one of the eye-patch, dark robed creatures raised up its arm, wielding a knife, and thrust it towards Seo.

She caught the creature's arm, flipped it over her head and then ducked the blow from the one beside it. "Go!" she shouted to Martha.

The monster that had picked Martha up, before, reached out for her, again, trying to block her way. Martha grabbed up the dropped torch, as she struggled to her feet, lunging at the monster to scare him off, get him away for long enough that she could find the Doctor.

Turned out, she didn't need to.

The shouts and growls and hisses must have alerted them, because Buffy and the Doctor came rushing down the hall to find out what the trouble was. The Doctor rushed for Martha, double checking that she was all right, while Buffy began to kick, punch, and flip her way through the monsters towards Seo.

In the center, Seo had begun, out of desperation, using the super-strength that Martha had heard she hated using. Throwing the monsters away from her with such violence that they cracked the stone walls nearby. But she was still being overwhelmed, swarmed from all sides.

The Doctor raised up his sonic. Fiddled with the settings, muttering about synchronizing with the machine. Then, looking at Seo and the creatures with determination on his face, he pressed the button, and the sonic screwdriver buzzed into life.

None of the creatures seemed to notice.

"It's not working!" Martha shouted at the Doctor.

"Isn't it?" the Doctor asked her.

Just then, appearing mid-leap in the air, dozens of giant, hairy brown beasts with snouts and a single horn on their heads shimmered into existence around them, materializing into both this location and this dimension with a suddenness that took both Martha and the beasts themselves by shock.

But not for long.

"Get 'em, Aggedors!" the Doctor shouted, changing the sonic frequency.

The Aggedors turned, noticing the evil creatures, and, as if driven on by the Doctor's signal, launched themselves at the monsters surrounding Seo with feral roars. The Aggedors clawed, ravaged, and tore at the creatures as they overtook them, horns slamming the evil monsters out of the way.

The evil creatures, distracted, turned their attention away from Seo, who managed to punch a green-skinned vampire in the stomach so he reeled. She then slid and leapt out of the way, trying to reach Buffy, who'd made it about half way to her.

Buffy gave a spinning kick that knocked three creatures out of her way, then lunged for Seo.

Only she never made it.

One of the cloaked figures thrust a dagger deep into Buffy's chest, as she passed by. Then sharply out, the blood seeping forward, covering her shirt. Buffy stumbled, her left arm caught by the giant shadowy monster, who swiped down with his claws, and sliced through her.

Buffy fell, dead, to the ground.

Seo screamed.

And inside of that scream was a rush of something icy. Something cold. Something that flashed through the entire stone fortress — and maybe even beyond — with a powerful destructiveness that burned across all of Martha's senses. Martha clutched her head, as her vision faded into a silvery white, trying to keep herself together, trying…

A lurch, deep down inside. Like someone had just yanked her inside out and back again.

And then it was gone. Like it had never been there at all. Martha looked over at the Doctor, who also seemed fine. Physically. His face, however, had gone very grave, his eyes examining the scene in front of him with an anger he didn't seem to know quite where to direct.

Martha looked over… to find…

Buffy. Sitting up on the floor, where she'd fallen, looking a little dazed but otherwise completely fine. Not even her shirt was bloody or torn.

And surrounding Buffy was a sea of bones, ash, and dust. A few decomposing corpses, here and there, but most of the creatures' remains were skeletal.

Martha could see the remains of the Aggedors that had rescued them, mixed in with the remains from the others. All wiped out together, in a tidal wave of fury and desperation.

Martha rushed over to check over Buffy. Make sure she was all right, medically. But she appeared undamaged. Unharmed.

"This is starting to become a habit," Buffy muttered, almost too faint for Martha to pick up.

The Doctor stepped forward into the sea of destroyed creatures. Kneeling down, analyzing the bones more closely. "Aged to death in a matter of seconds," he diagnosed. "Which is particularly impressive… because, for some of these creatures, age wouldn't be enough to kill them." He picked up some of the dust, sniffed at it. Wrinkled his nose. "Consequences of a sudden, accelerated, destabilized time field — at a guess."

He looked up, towards Seo, who was standing with her back plastered against a stone wall, her eyes staring out at the devastation around her.

"You didn't know you were going to do that," the Doctor guessed. He stood up, putting his hands in his pockets, strolling towards Seo. "Did you?"

Seo looked up at the Doctor, a terrified expression on her face. "What did I do?"

The Doctor stopped, just in front of Seo. "You mean you don't know?"

Seo shook her head.

"So it's feeding off your subconscious," the Doctor muttered. "Whatever it is." He noticed Seo's still terrified expression, and decided a hurried explanation was in order. "You didn't want your mother to die. So you forced time to turn backwards — at least in relation to the four of us." He gestured at himself, Martha, Buffy, and Seo. "You created a stability field around us, only de-aging us about a minute, but didn't shield anyone else. And, well, every action must have a reaction."

"So we got younger," said Martha, "and everyone else got older?"

"Yes; in this case, drastically so," the Doctor agreed. "Without the proper shielding or a stabilized time interface, the aging effect never stopped. They went right on until they were dust. Either from age, or — in the case of the vampires — an overload of temporal friction." The Doctor ran a hand through his hair. Then turned back to Seo. "But all of that is secondary. Most important is — how could you do something like that without _knowing_?"

"I… don't know," said Seo.

The Doctor leaned down, so he was at Seo's height. Put on his very best, 'Trust me, I'm the Doctor' look, and held out his hands by her temples. In a soft voice, he asked, "May I?"

Seo shrunk back. "Don't," she whispered.

The Doctor frowned, took away his hands, a thoughtful expression on his face. "You didn't know you were going to say that, either," he noted.

Seo didn't answer. She looked incredibly uncomfortable.

"Whatever it is," said the Doctor, "it's feeding off your subconscious. And I think your subconscious doesn't want to let it out."

"I don't understand," said Seo.

Buffy stepped forward. "Doctor," she said. "What's wrong with Seo?"

The Doctor sighed, then turned to face Buffy. "Well, I don't know. Yet. But I'm beginning to have a few suspicions. Rather nasty suspicions. And I think," turning back to the room with the machine, coattails flying as he rushed back there, "we should test them out!"

The others raced after him.

"What kind of suspicions?" Buffy shouted. "Why—?"

The Doctor stopped. So did the others, as they noticed the bodies lying in front of them, blocking their way back to the room where they'd left Seo's machine.

Martha's jaw fell open. "But… but those are people!" she cried. Raced forward, tried to find a pulse, or some indication that they could be saved. The bodies crumbled into dust beneath her touch.

"Peladonians," the Doctor agreed. His eyes shifted across the bodies, resting on one in the far corner of the hall. "Most of them."

Buffy furrowed her brow. "How'd they get here?" she asked. "We went all around this castle, and there was no one. I thought nothing living could get into this dimension." She hesitated, remembering the Aggedors. "You know. Without using that machine thing."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow at Buffy. "You came here. Didn't use a machine."

Buffy's eyes rested on the dead bodies, and she stepped back. As she seemed to understand. Glancing over at Seo, whose face had turned white. "Seo…?"

"The Peladonians were forced into this dimension too quickly," the Doctor explained. "Sensory overload must have knocked them out. They'd have been unable to even cry out when the time distortion hit them." He ran a hand through his hair, letting a breath out through his teeth. "Which means whatever this 'silver stuff' really is… it can transcend any dimensional barrier at will. Easily."

Buffy swore beneath her breath.

"Exactly," the Doctor agreed.

Martha called out to them, as she reached a body unlike the others. One that seemed to ripple, fading in and out in the air. Whose skin was almost insubstantial, felt like nothing beneath her fingers, yet impacted and dented beneath Martha's touch.

The others rushed over, and Buffy recognized the face. So did Seo.

"Andor," Seo breathed.

Martha frowned. Recognizing the name from what Buffy had told her. She looked up at the Doctor. "One of the Powers that Be? I thought they couldn't die. Even from… 'temporal friction' or whatever you just said."

"They shouldn't," the Doctor confirmed. He glanced over at Buffy, who was smiling faintly to herself. "You don't seem too upset."

Buffy looked back at him, realized her mistake, and tried to hide her smile. "Oh," she said. "Yeah. Yeah, that sucks. Seo's super destructive and can't control it, and… and…" The smile peaked out, a little, as her eyes rested on Andor. And she remembered what Andor had done, the pain he'd caused her and the Doctor, in 2004. The lengths he'd gone to, so he could prove that the Powers that Be should kill Buffy's daughter.

"Can we kill him again?" asked Buffy.

The Doctor gave Buffy a very severe look, which she met with her own. For a few seconds, they stayed that way, neither wanting to back down.

"Doctor," Martha cut in, before this could go on too long. She stood up, and walked next to Seo, giving her a friendly and supportive smile before addressing the Doctor again. "What's happening to Seo?"

The Doctor turned to Martha, and gave her a perky grin. "Nothing," he assured her. "Well, I say nothing. Something. But not something you need to worry about. Not for long, anyways. After all! Seo is going to be fine. She didn't go through a full regeneration cycle, and that means she's not getting the full dose of this. Seo's still mostly in control."

"Whatever what thing is?" Buffy asked, warily.

The Doctor's confidence faltered. "I don't know. Yet. But I'm going to find out."

He turned, and ran back into the room with the machine, yanking two wires out, and then flipping a switch on the top. The machine hummed into life, again.

"Okay, just answer one question," Buffy said, entering the room behind him, Seo and Martha in tow. "Is Seo really as dangerous as the Powers that Be think she is?"

The Doctor glanced over his shoulders. "Seo is being infected by an energy that can kill anyone — regardless of who that person is and how immortal they might be — across all of time, all of space, and any dimensional barrier. An energy that activates with only a thought from Seo. She could probably tear apart entire civilizations — topple empires, destroy planets, wipe out entire species — with only a nod from her subconscious. And, worst thing is — she can't control the energy. At all." His eyes rested on Seo. "I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry. But the answer is… yes. Yes, you really are that dangerous. If not more so."

Seo said nothing. Just stood very still in the doorway to the machine-room. Trying to look brave, but utterly failing.

"But you can fix her, right?" Buffy reminded the Doctor.

The wall nearest to them burst with brightness, as it opened into a tunnel of softly glowing white light, inside of which was a staircase that stretched on farther than anyone could see.

"Working on it," the Doctor told her.

Martha pointed at the staircase. "Where does that lead?" she asked.

"The Axis," the Doctor said. He clapped Seo on the back. "Cheer up. You're going home!"

"My home," Seo said, her voice little more than a whisper. "My prison."

"Blimey, you sound like me, when I was your age," the Doctor muttered. He grinned, then charged forward. "Still! Only a quick trip! Allons-y!"


	39. Chapter 39

Buffy had been to the Axis before, but never to its Hub. Or at least, not when its Hub was anything like this.

It was a vast, empty whiteness, stretching into infinity. The air itself shimmering around them, like a cat surveying them with laughing eyes. Buffy squinted, and the more she looked, the more she thought… she could make out shapes. As if something were just beyond the horizon, and she couldn't quite see it clearly.

"It's empty," said Martha, approaching from behind, with Seo. She glanced over at the child. "You really grew up here?"

Seo stood still, at the top of the steps, her eyes fixed on the landscape around her. A battle evident in her countenance. She reached out, then tugged back her hand.

A part of her wanted, so badly, to go back to her home, back to her place of safety. To return to the realm she knew and understood. Another part, very clearly, never wanted to set foot there, again.

"Empty," Seo agreed, at long last. She looked off into the distance, her entire expression falling into sadness. "Very empty."

The Doctor put his hands into his pockets, rolled on his trainers. "Home isn't the same without the people," he said, very quietly. "Is it?"

Seo turned to him, their eyes locking. Seeing in the Doctor an understanding of what it meant to return to a home that had been invaded, a home devoid of the friendly faces and kind people that had made it home. A home with no family. A home destroyed.

"I never wanted to come back," Seo said. She stepped forward, picked something up from the ground. Something that Buffy hadn't noticed, before — that she saw plainly, now. A pair of stuffed child's dolls. One of her, vampire-stake in hand. One of the Doctor, holding his sonic.

The Buffy doll had been torn open, the stuffing tumbling out of its mid-section.

Buffy looked around, and suddenly, discovered that she could see. That the entire landscape was strewn with fallen and tumbled objects and items. Chairs tossed to the ground, a table with a missing leg, books and objects scattered across the floor. Broken shards of glass mixed into the carpet.

A ransacked house. Searched top to bottom.

"But you always knew you would," the Doctor pointed out. "If you succeeded in saving who you set out to save."

Seo didn't answer. Her fingers lingering over the torn stuffing, as if it were a gaping wound. Her hands shaking, as she gritted her teeth, her eyes focusing with a hard intensity.

"Not fair," she said. "It's just not fair!" She threw the dolls onto the ground, her entire body seized with anger, as she spun around to face the Doctor. "I had nothing. Nothing but my dad, and my hopes and wishes and dreams of freedom. And they took even that away from me!"

The Doctor gave her a look of empathy. A look that showed Buffy the echo of every painful encounter with the Daleks he'd ever gone through. Every encounter that had left him, as well, with nothing.

He opened his mouth, as if to promise he'd get Seo out of this, then hesitated. Scratched his head.

Well, if the Doctor wasn't going to say it.

"You're not getting trapped here, again," Buffy told Seo. "We're going to rescue your dad and fix what's wrong with you. All at once. You won't have to choose between saving him and living your life in a prison you don't deserve."

The Doctor glanced over at Buffy, raising an eyebrow. "You really think we stand a chance against omnipotent, omniscient entities, as old or possibly older than time itself, who wield powers that defy every universal law there is?"

Buffy gave a shrug. "No," she admitted. "But that's never stopped me before." She put an arm around Seo, protectively. "Not when my family's in danger."

A delighted grin lit up the Doctor's face. He spun on his trainers, and launched himself forwards, into the Axis. "Better get to it, then!" he cried back to them, as, with only two steps, he disappeared into the distance.

Martha, annoyed, raced after him, only to run into a wall with a loud SMACK!

She stumbled backwards, her hands over her face. Then stared at the area she'd just run into, which now had a wall where there hadn't been one, before. "What…?" she asked.

"Ah, yes, you'll want to look out for that," the Doctor said, reappearing. He grabbed Martha's hand. "Doors and walls flip around here. Depending on what you wanted. Or will want. Or might want."

"Don't tell me," Buffy said, reaching out with her hand, to make sure there were no walls in front of her. "This is some backwardsly causal time whatever freaky thing."

Seo grabbed Buffy's hand, forcing it down. "That won't help," she said. "You have to do it like this." Then walked forwards, with even more confidence than the Doctor — as if walking in the Hub of the Axis were as easy as taking a walk in the park.

Which it damn well _wasn't_.

Unlike the Doctor, Seo didn't fade into the distance with two steps, but seemed to be walking completely in sync with the landscape around her. She turned, a short ways away. "See?"

Buffy tried it.

And hit about three walls, before she arrived where Seo was.

"Well, cause and effect," the Doctor said, making his way, with Martha, towards them. Picking his way across the floor with the care of one who was making complex mathematical computations in his head with every single step. "Bit wishy-washy, up in the higher dimensions. All squishes and squashes together until you can't tell what's what. Effects happening before their causes — or even without their causes — sometimes overriding their causes completely — commonplace up here, really."

He stopped, as he noticed Seo trying to smother her laughter.

"What?" the Doctor asked.

"Nothing," said Seo, schooling her features. But the next step the Doctor took proved too much, and she burst out laughing, again.

"Where are we going, anyways?" Buffy asked the Doctor, before he could get too affronted by Seo's laughter.

The Doctor gave a little shrug. "Back room," he said.

* * *

The entrance to the back room looked like the vault door to the most secure safe at Torchwood — except heavier, thicker, and made of a metal that Buffy had never seen before. A metal that shone from the inside with a slight luminosity, whose texture felt like glass, yet shimmered like water. Buffy gave an experimental shove against it, but — as she suspected — even under her Slayer strength, the door didn't give.

Well, yeah. The door had probably been designed to keep Seo out. And Seo was way stronger than Buffy.

"Sonic screwdriver?" Martha guessed, looking up at the Doctor.

"Nah," said the Doctor. "Wouldn't work."

Martha nodded, slowly, her mind racing through the possibilities. "Not wood," she said, her eyes on the door. "So… deadlock sealed?"

"Not a real lock," the Doctor corrected. He scratched the back of his neck. "Well. Not the way you or I would think of a lock, anyways." He turned to Seo. "Bet you have a way in."

Seo clasped her hands behind her back, and put on an entirely innocent face. "No. I'd never. It's a locked door."

The Doctor grinned a little wider, and then winked at Seo.

A little sheepishly, Seo dug down into a hole that hadn't been in the wall a few seconds ago, producing a small little device that looked… well, not completely unlike a sonic screwdriver. But almost.

She pressed it down, and with a buzzing sound, the mechanisms inside the door shuddered and clicked unlocked.

Martha turned to Seo, amused. "You didn't just break into this room once or twice," she guessed. "You broke into here a lot."

Seo twirled the not-sonic-screwdriver nervously in her hand. "Well… it was a locked door," she explained. "What else could I do?"

Like father…

Buffy still had her hands pressed against the metallic door. Her heart pounding more and more rapidly, as the moment came closer. The moment when she'd have to see… what her future might have been. What might have happened in her life, without the Powers that Be.

The Doctor came over to her. Put a hand on her shoulder.

She looked back. Caught his eyes with her own. Saw the empathy and compassion therein, the sorrow he felt towards her over what had been done.

"We have to go in," he told her, in a soft voice. "See what happened. It's the only way." Eyes flicking over to Seo. "For her."

"I know," said Buffy, grabbing hold of the door handle. She tried to force a laugh, but it sounded thoroughly un-laugh-like. "I mean, it's not a big deal anyways, right? My happy futures for your freedom. That… makes sense. I guess… if someone had asked me, I'd probably have signed them away myself."

Remembering, back in 2004, how the Doctor had told her it was his life or hers, and she hadn't needed to think twice about it. And she knew. She'd probably make the same choice, now.

Because even though she told herself she'd moved on, even though she told herself the Doctor part of her life was over… a part of her had never gotten over it. Never gotten over him. Still loved him so deeply, it hurt.

"But… no one asked me!" Buffy said. "No one ever even asked."

The Doctor nodded, somberly. "I'll get to the bottom of this," he promised her. "I can't undo what's been done to you, but… I can make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else."

Buffy's eyes fixed on the door. For a few seconds, she said nothing.

Then, with a great big heave, Buffy opened it.

* * *

Behind the door lay a vast, secured network, filled floor to ceiling with windows showing the different timelines playing out. And there was a feeling like the room wasn't just what Buffy could see in front of her — like there were other walls, just beyond her senses, other floors and other corners, other places where timelines were stashed.

In the center was a large computer-bank type thing.

The Doctor was already flitting around it, buzzing at it with his sonic screwdriver, trying to dissect its inner workings, a grave sort of intensity on his face that wasn't matched by the excitement and curiosity shining through his eyes.

"Dad never used that," Seo said, noticing the Doctor scurrying around the computer bank. "I thought it was supposed to manipulate the timelines, but it doesn't. Dad always did that kind of thing by hand — his own way."

"Figured as much," the Doctor muttered, inputting a few settings, and checking the output. He hissed through his teeth, then glanced up at Seo. "You made a bit of a mess of this thing, trying to hack past the isomorphic controls."

Seo's cheeks went red. "Maybe a little."

The Doctor dove beneath the device, and altered a few more circuits. "That should undo the damage," he announced, popping back to his feet, and checking the reading again. "Back to normal, now."

"But it's locked, when it's normal," Seo pointed out. "It doesn't work."

"Well, course it doesn't work for you," the Doctor replied, flipping switches and sifting through information, which whizzed past his eyes far too rapidly to process. "Isomorphics seem to be locked to _me_."

Seo furrowed her brow, clearly trying to work this all out in her mind. "Dad was expecting you to come here."

"My thoughts, exactly!" the Doctor replied, continuing to fiddle. "In fact — funny thing. The Axis is impenetrable. Inside and out. Even the Powers that Be had to force their way in here, and that was no easy feat. But…" He gave a small shrug. "Axis opened up for me. Easy as that."

"Why?" asked Seo.

"Not sure," the Doctor said. He glanced over at her. "Could be… your dad hoped that, someday, I'd turn up and get you out of here."

Seo looked a little hopeful.

Buffy, in the meantime, couldn't take her eyes away from the timelines around her. The windows that showed different probabilities for her own life. She could see… just there, that was Benjy — as a much older man, still alive, still with her, the two of them together with a family and a house of their own. And there… that was Spike, helping a far older Buffy to combat evil, in her own future. The two of them close together, very obviously involved with one another.

And so many others.

Those who'd died, those who'd left her, those who'd bolted the moment they found out the truth about her. They were all here, in these many different futures. Still alive. Still around.

Buffy felt her legs give out from under her. Felt herself falling… but was caught. By Martha.

"Just sit down," Martha told her, looking her over with a medical eye, and helping her sit on the floor. "You're in shock, but it'll wear off."

"They're… happy endings," Buffy said, in a voice barely above a whisper. Endings where everyone survived, everything turned out all right, and the heartache and loneliness never crushed her spirit. "All gone. Written out of the universe. All my happy endings."

Martha glanced at the walls around her. A pensive look on her face. "Only if you're a 12th century medieval housewife," she muttered.

Buffy snapped her head over to Martha. "What?"

Martha pointed at the walls around them. "Well, they're not your 'happy endings', are they?" she said. "They're just the endings where you find love and have a child."

The Doctor perked up his head at this, interested.

Buffy stared back at the timelines. Not sure what to say.

"Oh, that's clever," the Doctor said, with a grin on his face and a twinkle in his eye. He strolled over to the timelines, examining them all in more detail. He whipped his brainy specs out of his pocket, and shoved them on his nose. "Brilliant, Martha Jones. Absolutely brilliant."

Seo bit her lower lip, but said nothing.

"But… but… everyone's still alive," Buffy insisted. "In all those timelines. The people I've lost, they're…" She stopped. Then realized… it wasn't the people she'd lost. Just the _boyfriends_ she'd lost.

Particularly, the boyfriends she'd lost after the collapse of Sunnydale in 2003.

And there were others. Other guys she didn't know, hanging out with an older version of herself. Future boyfriends. Anyone Buffy could ever love, had ever loved, or would ever love. Their futures. All dashed to pieces.

She looked over at Seo, everything coming together in her mind. Why the Powers that Be wouldn't want her to contact the Doctor after the two of them had been intimate. The way that Benjy had died just before she and him were at the spending-the-night-together stage of their relationship. The way her boyfriends were always dying, or deciding they wanted nothing to do with her… right around the moment… they became intimate.

The Powers that Be wanted to destroy Seo.

Because they were trying, desperately, to prevent any possibility that Buffy might have a child.

"But… but I couldn't have a child with some of these guys!" Buffy said. She pointed at the timelines featuring Spike. "He's a vampire. You can't have kids with a vampire."

" _You_ can," said Seo. "You could even have natural born kids with a Time Lord, and that's equally impossible."

That was when Buffy noticed the section of the room devoted to her meeting up with the Doctor, again. As she saw the possibilities for the two of them.

Her heart sunk.

The Doctor gave it only a quick glance, his face unreadable. Then turned back to the computer bank, again. "Hate seeing my own future," he muttered, as he soniced the device.

"Yeah, thanks, Mr. I-Got-My-Freedom," Buffy snapped at the Doctor. "That makes me feel way better."

The Doctor didn't answer.

"I mean, what is this?" Buffy demanded, jumping to her feet. She gestured at the room around her. "The Powers that Be are so paranoid that I'll have a kid, they kill off anyone who sleeps with me? If I'm like cookies, then what the _hell_ kind of cookies does that make me?!"

Martha mouthed the word, "Cookies?"

"Obviously, there's some reason you can have a child with anyone, even when doing so is biologically impossible," the Doctor said, turning back to the computer bank and messing around with it, again. "And there's some potential future that could be unleashed, if you were to have a child. Something they're trying to prevent."

"Some _one_ ," Seo corrected, looking down at the ground, and shuffling her feet. "Me."

"No, no, no," the Doctor dismissed. "You're where it wound up, but there's something else out there. Something they're worried about. Some power they've accidentally unleashed on the universe, and they're afraid it'll get out."

"But it's already gotten out," said Buffy. "You said it was in Seo."

"Well, yes, at the moment," the Doctor said. "But she's completely divorced from her reality. Like I said. Her existence doesn't rely on anything in our timeline. Which means she's an independent element."

"And that's good?" said Buffy.

"If it stays in Seo, then yes," said the Doctor. "But, well. Like I said before. Cause and effect isn't quite the same, up here in the higher dimensions. Any of these futures pop into actual existence, and this something the Powers that Be are so worried about might wind up having always been somewhere else. In which case… well, if whatever-it-is becomes _real_ — could be a lot worse." He flipped a switch. "That's what they're worried will happen."

Martha climbed to her feet, and wandered a little closer to the Doctor. Squinting at the display, but being able to understand none of it. "What's that?" Martha asked, pointing at it.

"A log of every action ever taken in the Axis," said the Doctor. "Since the day Seo's dad showed up to take command." He buzzed it with his sonic, and the display flickered, then stabilized again. "Should be hidden somewhere in here."

"What?" Martha asked. "You're not looking for Seo's…? I mean, Seo told you whatever timeline she came from contained things that'll happen in your own—"

"Future, yes, I know," the Doctor said, with the wave of his hand. "Not looking for that."

"Then… what?" asked Martha.

The Doctor flicked another switch, his eyes still on the scrolling data in front of him. "Twilight."

"I've read that," said Martha, Buffy, and Seo all at the same time.

The Doctor's lips twitched into a small smile, his eyes still on the scrolling data. "Stephenie Meyer. Thought of that. Decided it was probably not what Toby meant."

Buffy's entire body tensed at mention of the First. "Toby?"

"Yes — when he was trying to convince me to wipe you out of history," the Doctor replied, his voice far more cheerful than Buffy felt it should be. "He seemed terribly afraid of something. And he told me that 'Twilight' had been erased."

"Buffy's got 64 copies of the book _Twilight_ ," Seo chimed in. "I always thought that was odd."

The Doctor stopped. Spun around to face Buffy. "Sorry, you have how many copies?"

Buffy crossed her arms. "Okay, for the record, I bought none of them," she said. "They were gifts."

The Doctor quirked an eyebrow at Buffy. "You're right," he told Seo. "That _is_ odd." He ran a hand through his hair, then turned to Seo. "Any other odd things you've noticed, while you were on Earth?"

Seo's eyes lit up. "Yes!" she said. "Lots! Like — there's this thing that humans do, every single morning. Called 'shaving'. And if they don't, then lots of hair grows all over their face."

Buffy felt a blush coming across her cheeks.

"Ah," said the Doctor. He scratched at the stubble across his own chin. "Not just humans, actually. Men. Fairly standard."

"Dad never had to—" Seo started. Then stopped. Seeming to work it out. "Non corporeal. Of course." She tilted her head, reflecting. "I'd never thought of that, before."

The Doctor turned back to the computer banks, resuming his perusal of the data stream.

"There is this other thing that humans do," Seo said, her voice eager to gain back the attention she'd lost. "And they do it all the time, even though I don't understand its biological function. I always thought it was odd. I thought maybe humans just liked doing it, but Buffy shivers every time she taps—"

"Seo," Buffy cut in, sharply. "This… 'thing' you've noticed. Does _everyone_ you've met on Earth do it?"

Seo hesitated. Then, a little sheepishly, nodded.

"Okay, for future record," said Buffy, "if everyone in the world is doing something, it's not weird. It's just what normal humans do. Got it?"

Seo glanced down at Buffy's fingers, her forehead creased into a pensive frown. Then, she nodded, seeming to accept this.

"Ha!" said the Doctor, a large grin spreading across his face. "Found it! One of the first entries archived in this database." He buzzed the computer bank with his sonic, and the display stopped. "Brilliant! Molto bene!"

Then the display hesitated, flickered, and changed. Appeared to be a video of something happening, something hazy and insubstantial, but still clear enough that Buffy could make it out easily.

She just… couldn't quite believe her eyes.

There was Giles, in the crater that had once been the Hellmouth at Sunnydale. And there was Angel, coming up to him. Angel, looking somehow… off. Either evil, or in some kind of trance. And in one motion, Angel snapped Giles' neck.

The breath caught in Buffy's throat.

"Oh, no," the Doctor said. But when Buffy glanced at him, she realized his response hadn't been to the events occurring in the timeline. But to some reading he was getting off the computer banks. His eyes shifted between the projected image in the air, and the readings on the computer banks. "No, no, no, no, no." He buzzed at the computer bank with his sonic, but whatever he read there didn't inspire any more confidence. He gritted his teeth. "Those thick-headed, self-obsessed, idiotic…" he hissed.

On the image, still playing in the air, Buffy could now see herself — Scythe in hand. Her face was furious with the pain of Giles' death. Her entire body overcome with sorrow and pain and anger. In a burst of speed, she raced over to a glowing red object that hovered just over a stone pedestal, and with a swing of the Scythe, broke it.

The moment the glow retreated from the object, Buffy realized she'd seen it before. Or at least, bits of it.

She wasn't the only one.

Martha's jaw dropped. She pointed at the image. "It's another one of those Seeds!" she cried. "Just like the Seed of Eternity."

"Exactly like," the Doctor agreed. He folded his arms, contemplating this. "Interesting."

"Seed of Eternity?" Buffy asked. "What…?"

Martha turned to Buffy, animated. "It's not really a 'seed'," she explained. "Or, at least, that's what the Doctor says. We've been running into them almost every planet we go to. They're always called the 'Seed of Something'. We've seen the Seed of Eternity. The Seed of Emergence. The Seed of Creation. The Seed of Infinity."

"Seed of Power," the Doctor added. "Seed of Origin. Seed of Essence. All these different Seeds, all throughout the universe, linked together in perfect equilibrium. Or would be, if they were functional. One located on every celestial body that ever would or could or had or is sustaining life."

"And, let me guess," said Buffy. "They all seemed like mythical magical objects on the outside, but inside they were filled with a bunch of electronic stuff?"

Martha nodded. "The Doctor said they're some sort of… control conduit," she said. "He said if they were ever activated, they could let someone take control of the entire planet. We've been destroying them whenever we find them."

The Doctor pointed his sonic at the image. "But _that_ Seed was active," the Doctor said. "Which is odd. Never seen one active before."

"That's the Seed of Wonder," said Seo. "On Earth. I've been collecting the fragments." She shook her head. "But… that didn't happen. In the real world… the Seed of Wonder was destroyed millions of years ago."

The Doctor frowned. He turned back to the computer bank, and buzzed it with his sonic. "We must have come in at the end of this timeline," he muttered. "Let's see if we can't rewind a bit."

"They're timelines," said Buffy. "Like, with real people inside. You can't just… rewind them, or pause them, or whatever!"

The Doctor raised an eyebrow at her. "This one isn't," he replied. He looked back down at the computer bank, flicking a few switches. "This is just a recording. An imprint. The original timeline is gone. For good. That's what Toby meant." He ran a hand through his hair. "I thought they'd just erased a being or entity or even a creature from time. Turns out — they erased the entire timeline!"

"I thought you weren't supposed to do that," Buffy said.

"You aren't," the Doctor confirmed, as he managed to find the rewind setting on the computer bank. The image blinked off. "You're supposed to lock them away. Even the most dangerous ones. This sort of thing — it's playing with fire. No, worse. Fission. Like playing with fission."

"Why?" asked Martha. "What could happen?"

"All sorts of things!" the Doctor said. "The universe has a great big bunch of potential temporal energy, and with the timeline erased, there's nowhere for that energy to go. So it isn't destroyed. Quite the opposite! The energy spreads out. Across everything. Every possibility, every potential time-stream, every situation that even comes close." He glanced at the room around them. "Explains the need for this. An effort to contain the spillage, at a guess."

"But Dad wouldn't do something dangerous like that," Seo insisted. "He was the one who taught me about timelines. He taught me I couldn't erase them."

"Well, yes, course he knows better, now," the Doctor said. "But this all happened long ago. Long, long, long ago. One of the first things your dad did, after Rose created him."

Buffy shook her head. "Wait, wait, wait!" she said. She pointed at the spot where the timeline image had once been. "If this was one of the first things Mr. Doctor-Protecting Super Entity did, why's the Scythe around? He's the one who made it, and he only did that recently. I mean, how…?" She stopped. Then realized. "Weird higher-dimensional causality things. Right. Yeah. Forgot."

"Precisely," the Doctor agreed. The timeline recording flicked back on, again — this time at the beginning. With a group of Watchers in the 1680's, all gathered around, discussing things. "You're getting the idea." The Doctor buzzed at the display with his sonic, and the image sped up, playing through in fast forward. He hissed through his teeth, as he watched the timeline play through. "Worse than I thought. Not just a small temporal edit. This 'Twilight' has roots stretching all the way back through history."

Seo's eyes were fixed on the display, her face blank as it played through.

"But I don't understand," said Martha, as she tried to work out what was happening as the timeline played through on super-mega-fast-forward. "What is 'Twilight'? And if the Powers that Be are so powerful, why did they do something this drastic and stupid to get rid of it? Why didn't they… I don't know… snap their fingers and wish it away? That would have been more effective, anyways."

"Good question," the Doctor said. He studied the timeline, as it raced through to the end.

So did Buffy. Watching this potential for her future. Watching what might have happened, if it hadn't been erased from the universe. Seeing all the things that had kept bugging her, back in the real world — as if she should remember them, but didn't — playing out, here, the way they should. Rowena, Satsu, and Leah — her students, training closely with her in that castle in Scotland. The public attacks against the new Slayers. The love and the loss that Buffy should have experienced, along this erased timeline.

And… was that vampire the Master?!

Well, that was one thing to be thankful for, Buffy guessed. Yes, her life had been completely messed around with by higher-dimensional entities, and her happy endings had all been quarantined, but… at least the Master wasn't resurrected and holding the fate of the world in his hands!

That would suck.

The Doctor's face settled into a worried frown, as the timeline continued on towards the end. "Ah."

"What?" asked Buffy.

"Twilight," said the Doctor. "A time traveling, insanely powerful sentient dimension. Who created himself using a predestination paradox. And had enough power to wipe out the current universe, replacing it with a brand new one." He glanced over at Buffy. "A sentient dimension who also happens to be your child."

Buffy felt her entire body go numb.

"So when that timeline got erased," Martha realized, "the Twilight creature was destroyed. But the temporal potential for what it was going to do stuck around. And went into any child that Buffy might have had. The Powers that Be knew that if Buffy had a kid, that kid would destroy the universe. So they made sure she'd never have one."

"Exactly!" the Doctor agreed. Then paused, and thought it over. "Well, if we're lucky."

"And that's why they wrote out all my happy endings?!" Buffy shouted. "Killed off all my boyfriends? Tried to murder Seo? Because she just has the _potential_ to destroy the universe?!"

Seo's face remained blank.

The Doctor contemplated this, his face bent in confusion, as he seemed to be running through the possibilities in his mind. "No," he decided. "No, there's something else going on, here. Something wrong with all of this. Something wrong with the Powers that Be."

"No kidding," said Martha, watching Buffy fume, in the middle of a room filled with every moment she might have settled down with a bloke.

The Doctor stepped forward, running a hand through his hair. "Names," he muttered. "The Powers that Be… have names. Individuality. All of them. Why?"

"They're not supposed to?" asked Martha.

"Not usually," the Doctor confirmed. "Pan-dimensional entities standing in for the concept of good? Never seen them with individuality, before." He blew a breath out of his cheeks, then turned to Buffy and Seo. "Right. Due to this… 'contract' of theirs… I'm out of the loop in terms of the Powers that Be. So! Let's pool our resources. Figure out who they are, where they came from, and what they want."

Buffy sighed, and crossed her arms. "Yeah, well, basically everything I have are just legends and stories and myths and things."

"What sorts of myths?" the Doctor asked.

Buffy thought back — way back, all the way to those boring Giles lectures, in high school. Dredged up as much of a memory as she could.

"Okay, so… we think of our world as being all human-containing and normal and civilized," said Buffy. "But that wasn't always the case. The world before ours was ruled by Great Beings, with lots of powers."

The Doctor raised up his hand, and cut in. "Just… one thing," he said. "This… 'legend'… was taken from a medieval text?"

"It was taken from Giles," said Buffy.

"Who took it from a medieval text?"

"I think, yeah," said Buffy. She shrugged. "Why? Is it important?"

"Ah, well, yes, a bit," the Doctor said, lowering his hand. "See, medieval mindset didn't quite understand the concept of 'universe'. Often used the word 'world' to signify 'universe', particularly when they transcribed legends that explained histories they didn't quite understand."

Okay. Whatever.

"So the world… universe… whatever," said Buffy, "before ours was ruled by Great Beings with lots of powers. Some of the Great Beings were good, and some were evil. But that was okay, because the good and evil balanced each other out, so the world was basically fine. Then evil overtook good—"

"Why?" the Doctor asked. "What happened to change the balance?"

"No idea," said Buffy. "I just know that the forces of evil soon way overpowered the forces of light, and the world became a realm of demons and monsters. So the forces of light united, and they got into this great big war against the forces of evil. And that war's still going on today."

Martha digested this, a pensive frown on her face. "So the terms 'Good' and 'Evil' don't have anything to do with morality," she observed. "They're just… arbitrary names, representing both side of a war."

Uh… Buffy had no idea.

Maybe?

"But how did the old world… sorry, universe… turn into our current one?" Martha continued.

Buffy shrugged. "Yeah, the myth never explained that," she said. "Just great big war between good and evil. Then the forces of light ascended to become the Powers that Be, and that war is still… going…"

Buffy trailed off. Her mouth falling open, as she realized what she just said. And what it meant.

She looked over at the Doctor, but she could tell that he'd caught it, too. What the Powers that Be had done to turn from the powerful but mortal Great Beings who ruled their universe, into the all-powerful, pan-dimensional beings that they now were, in this one.

"They Ascended," Buffy repeated.

And that was why they had names. Individuality. Why they had such a belligerent view of the universe. Why the concept of mortality still frightened them.

They had been like the Time Lords. Governing the universe in a state of peace and balance, until they wound up fighting a battle against an army of pure evil. An army led by the being that Buffy would know as the First.

But, unlike the Time Lords, they'd won their war. By Ascending.

"So I told you about that," the Doctor muttered. Catching the horror on Buffy's face.

"They ended the universe?!" Buffy cried. "The Powers that Be… actually ended their own universe?!" She shook her head. "But… but why are we following them? Why have I been fighting for them all this time?"

"You didn't know," said Martha.

Fighting blind. Fighting in a battle where Buffy couldn't see the sides. A piece on a chess board, when she couldn't see the players making the moves.

The Doctor took off his brainy specs, and thrust his hands into his pockets. "Just because the Powers that Be are bad doesn't mean their enemies are any better," he reminded her. "You've seen that before."

Yes. Buffy had seen that. She'd seen it many times.

The Doctor clapped his hands, a beaming smile on his face. "Right, then!" he said. "Seems that clarifies rather a lot. Combine that with the information I got from Krop Tor, and I've got a working theory about who the Powers that Be are, where they came from, and what it has to do with these 'Seeds'."

"I'm all ears," said Buffy.

"Powers that Be," the Doctor explained. "Once known as the Disciples of Light. Big, stuffy lot, bureaucratic overseers of the universe before ours. Then, somehow, along comes… well, the Devil. The Beast. The Undying Prince. Whatever he was calling himself, back then."

"Whom you call… Toby," Buffy checked.

"Whom I call Toby," the Doctor confirmed. "He sprung up. Balance changed. Great big war. Disciples of Light are losing. They manage to imprison Toby on Krop Tor — using technology that, to be honest, is truly baffling. Even to me, and, well, I'm a genius."

"Like the technology used in the Seeds?" Martha asked.

The Doctor frowned, his face looking troubled. "Yes," he muttered. "Very like. There's a point." Then he shook his head. "Any rate. Disciples of Light imprison Toby in Krop Tor, get rid of the leader of the opposite army. But it's not enough. Toby's already drained too many of their resources, killed too many of their people. Even leaderless, Toby's armies are still too much for the Disciples of Light to defeat."

"So they decide to get rid of the forces of evil," said Buffy, "by Ascending. And taking down the rest of the universe, with them."

The Doctor nodded. "Krop Tor would have survived — well, course it would, it being the ultimate prison and all," he said. "Powers that Be would have wound up in our universe as pan-dimensional beings. And they must have gotten on quite well, at first. What with all the Guardians and Elder Gods and various other pan-dimensional and higher-dimensional beings wandering about, fighting amongst themselves. Even after the Dark Times ended, they still had the White and Black Guardians around to keep them occupied."

"But… I thought those Universal Guardian guys were all gone, now," Buffy said.

"Oh, yes!" the Doctor agreed, spinning on her. "After the Time War. All the pan-dimensional and higher-dimensional sorts fled. Well, all except the Powers that Be, turns out. Not sure why. They had nothing to do, now that everyone else was gone. So they got bored. And created the Seeds."

"They alleviated boredom by ruling planets?" Martha asked.

"In a nutshell, yes," the Doctor agreed. "Seed acts as a control conduit of some sort. Making the old compatible with the new. The Powers that Be have the same problem as Toby — they don't belong to this physical universe. Aren't restrained by its laws, but also aren't able to reach in and muck about with it as much as they'd like. The Seed is like a… software patch. Both for Toby and the Powers that Be. Making them and their old, more supernatural energies compatible with this new universe."

"But you said the Seeds weren't active," Buffy pointed out. "And the one on Earth's been destroyed for basically forever, now. That doesn't seem to have stopped them from messing around with my life."

"Maybe they found a way around it," Martha proposed. "Or… a better software patch. A compatibility upgrade."

"Of course they did," said Seo. She gave a bitter laugh. "You don't think they went through all this trouble just to save your tiny little universe, did you? The Seed of Wonder was destroyed. The Universal Seed network became unstable. And so they found another way."

Buffy turned to Seo. To the girl who looked so much like her, now looking out on them with a small smile on her lips, and all traces of fear gone from her body. A twinkle in her eye.

The room around them blew away, as if in the wind, replaced by a stone prison cell and a heavy, closed and locked door at one end.

"How…?" Buffy started.

"I've lived in the Axis for 98 years," said Seo, with a cool disinterestedness. "Do you really think I wouldn't know how to manipulate it?"

She flicked an eyebrow at the wall behind Buffy and the Doctor, and Buffy felt the sudden tug of chains and manacles wrapping around her wrists and ankles, pulling her tight against the wall. The Doctor, beside her, gave a shout of annoyance, as he was likewise restrained.

Martha, who'd been standing a short ways away from them, wound up chained to the wall across from Buffy and the Doctor. Tugging at her chains, but finding them unbreakable.

"I wouldn't bother," said Seo. "You see, this is my little trap. And you've all walked right into it."


	40. Chapter 40

"What?" shouted Buffy.

"Oh, yes," said Seo. "My trap. And you never suspected a thing. So easily manipulated!" She turned to Buffy, and gave a little pout. "All I had to do was play on your sense of motherhood. Your protectiveness towards your family." Then to the Doctor. "Your curiosity. Your desire to help desperate, innocent souls crying out for help." Then to Martha. "Your disappointment, the moment you saw me. Your hope, when you discovered I wasn't real."

Buffy yanked at her own chains, but they didn't give. Not under her Slayer strength. "I can't believe I trusted her," she muttered beneath her breath.

"But of course you did, Mommy," said Seo. "You defended me against the Powers that Be. You gave me the chance to fulfill my destiny. And now, thanks to you, I'm going to kill everyone and everything in the entire universe."

The Doctor gave Seo a long, dark stare. "And I was really starting to like her…" he muttered, the hint of sorrow and raw anger beneath his breath.

Buffy felt the betrayal even more deeply. Because she really should have seen it before. "I am so going to kill you!" she told Seo.

The Doctor held out a hand as far as the chains would allow. "I wouldn't," he warned Buffy. He turned back to Seo. "98 years, then? Maybe in that body, yes, but I'm guessing you've been imprisoned quite a bit longer than that."

Seo crossed her arms. "Oh, clever, clever Doctor. Worked it all out." Her smile grew, icy and malicious. "Too bad your daughter wasn't quite as clever. Or she might still be alive."

Buffy looked between the Doctor and Seo.

"So you did kill her," the Doctor confirmed. His eyes bleak, dark. "When?"

"When you showed her who I was," Seo replied. "What I was. That I should have existed, in the real world. While she should never have existed at all."

"Seo…?" Buffy started.

"That isn't Seo," the Doctor told Buffy. "Not anymore. This is what the Powers that Be were worried would get out. What Seo's subconscious was fighting against. The source of those flashes of power." He looked over at the creature wearing Seo's body. "Twilight, I presume?"

"But… but you said Twilight was erased!" said Martha. "It turned into a bunch of energy that sought out Buffy's children."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "The Powers that Be didn't care about getting rid of _me_ ," she said. "They couldn't care less if this universe got destroyed! They erased my timeline because of the Seed."

"So you hid," the Doctor said. "To take your revenge. Hid in the one place you thought no one would ever find you. The one place you'd be guaranteed to get yourself a nice new body, when the time came." His eyes narrowed. "Seo's regenerative energy. Her future."

"The perfect hiding place," said the creature that was no longer Seo. "Gave me a chance to move in, linger in her mind. Get used to the new existence. And, all the while, little Seo never even suspected a thing."

"Lucky for you that it wound up being a regenerating child like Seo who got saved," the Doctor pointed out. "If it'd been one of the thousands of other potential children Buffy might have had… well, that would have been a shame for you. Wouldn't it?"

"Not luck — knowledge," said Twilight. "I chose Seo because of her raw power, her potential. And the moment I chose her, I knew the Embarrassment would save her. Would always save her. She became his other half. They are, inevitably, drawn to one another."

Wait.

Twilight got a chance to… linger in Seo's mind?

Buffy remembered what Xander had told them, after that day in the park, flying her kite. What Seo had confessed to him ("I've often thought about killing myself"). What Twilight might have been up to, in Seo's mind.

"You tried to make Seo kill herself," Buffy said. "So she'd regenerate. Regenerate into you."

Twilight raised up her thumb and index finger a centimeter apart. "And I was that close to succeeding," she said. Dropped the hand, her eyes unfocusing, as she recalled the memory. "It was right after Seo found out who she really was. That she'd killed her parents. Destroyed her world. I played up her guilt. Played up her despair and devastation. _Almost_ got her to go through with it."

"You played up her guilt over being a weapon," said Martha, "so she'd kill herself and you could use her as a weapon?! That's sick."

"I didn't _just_ try to make her kill herself," said Twilight. "I've been training her. Pushing her mind. Turning her from a weapon to destroy immortals into a weapon to wipe out entire species. Entire planets."

Like Jack said. "You turned her into a genocide machine," said Buffy.

"Oh, and she was good at it!" said Twilight. "I wish you could have seen — if she hadn't been so stubborn about not killing things. Talented brain, she has. Which, of course, I knew would be mine, some day. I have all the knowledge, myself — didn't need to program that in. Just needed the hardware."

"For when Seo regenerated," said the Doctor. "And you took over the process. Reshaped her to your own design. Then used her body for yourself."

"It's why I put in the effort," Twilight agreed. "Let Seo's mind learn and grow and develop in exactly the way I wanted. With success. I got the destructive impulse so ingrained, Seo would do it automatically. Any time she meets anyone, any time she visits a new place, any time she finds a new species — she begins working out how to destroy it. Tear it apart. Annihilate it."

"Martha's right," said Buffy. "You're sick. A sick, destructive… crazy person!"

Twilight sighed. "I wasn't supposed to be _about_ destruction, though," she said to them all. "Not originally. I brought life. A new, brighter future. A better world, a better universe. It was about giving a fresh start. Out with the old, in with the new." She gritted her teeth, her face collapsing into bitterness. "Then the Powers that Be got greedy. Stripped me away. Turned me into this."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Stripped you away?"

Twilight gave a small smile. Then turned to address the three of them. "You're right, Doctor. I _do_ want revenge. Revenge on the Powers that Be. Revenge on the First. Revenge on everyone that tore me out of reality just to aid their own personal agenda. And, of course, revenge on this universe, itself."

"Why the universe?" Martha demanded. "We've all been as much a pawn of these higher powers as you were. And Seo more than anyone else!"

"And, of course," Twilight continued, ignoring her, "the only three people who can stop me are here. Locked up and out of the way. For all eternity." Her eyes narrowed in on the Doctor. "The two humans will only last about seventy years or so. Then they'll die. Find peace. But _you_ … you'll live on. Forever. Alone. The last man in the universe."

The Doctor didn't answer. Just met the creature's stare with a hint of interest.

"That's what you get," said Twilight, anger flaring up in her eyes. "What you deserve. For being Seo's father."

The Doctor analyzed the vehemence in Twilight's eyes with increasing curiosity. "You hate me."

Twilight applauded his brilliance. "Just so."

"Why? Have we met somewhere before?" the Doctor asked.

"No," said Twilight. "But that doesn't matter. You met my mommy, and that's all I needed. Your genetics, combined with hers, were useful. And your ship will be, too."

Buffy scoffed. "Yeah, like you could get in."

"I could," said Twilight, reaching forwards towards the Doctor's coat pocket. "Using his key."

Then, Twilight… hesitated. Froze, her hand just in front of the Doctor's pocket. She stood there, unmoving, for nearly a minute.

Then she gave a small, evil smile, and took her hand away.

"No," she said. "On second thought — I'm _not_ going to take it from you. That could be a trick. A trap. Instead, I'm going to make you give it to me. Yourself. Voluntarily." She held out her hand, expectantly. "TARDIS key. Now."

"You must be joking," said Martha.

"I've decided," said Twilight, "to be merciful. Not to force the Doctor to live on forever in torment and isolation. As long as you give me the TARDIS key, Doctor, I promise to kill you when the other two die."

The Doctor peered at her. "Sorry, was that supposed to be convincing?"

He then tried to move his arm, which didn't give even an inch, from where it was secured to the wall.

"Any rate, I can't," the Doctor continued. "Even if I wanted to. No way to reach my pocket."

"The chains are tuned into your mind," said Twilight. "The moment you give in, completely — no tricks or traps — they'll release. Just enough to let you reach into your pocket and take out your TARDIS key."

"At which point, you'll run off and be able to use the TARDIS to destroy the universe," the Doctor clarified. He shook his head. "Sorry, not about to fall for that."

"I'm going to destroy the universe, anyways," said Twilight. "TARDIS or no. Using the gift you've already given me — Seo. The Weapon. My new form."

"So why the TARDIS?" Martha asked.

"Because I'm being generous," said Twilight. Eyes still fixed on the Doctor. "Seo is powerful enough to destroy everything, everywhere, across all dimensions, universes, and realities. The TARDIS would moderate that power. Limit me to destroying only this universe." Twilight gave a proud smile. "So I guess the real deal is… give me the key to your TARDIS, and I'll let Rose Tyler survive."

The Doctor said nothing. His eyes growing angrier and angrier by the second.

"Woah, woah, hang on!" Buffy cut in. "So… let's see if I've got this straight. You're going off to destroy the universe. We're the only ones who can stop you. You can kill any of us with just a thought — and you don't actually want us for anything. Or even like us all that much." She shook her head. "And you're leaving us _alive_?"

Twilight didn't answer.

"I mean, talk about lame villain clichés!" said Buffy. "If we're such a big threat, and you hate us that much, why aren't you killing us? And, for that matter, why do you even want the TARDIS? Why limit the damage? You don't care if Rose is killed. I mean, destroying the universe on July 1st, 2007 — when Seo and I came from — would kill Rose, anyways."

The Doctor glanced back at Buffy. "She has a point."

Twilight turned around, her anger evident. "I don't have time for this," she said. She reached down, and produced a long, nasty-looking whip in her hand. Seemingly from nowhere. "If you don't give me what I want, Doctor, I'll make you."

But the Doctor was now starting to pick up on Buffy's vibe. "What, really?" he asked. "You think you can torture me, when you couldn't even manage to pick my pocket?"

"And anyways," Buffy continued, "torturing the Doctor never convinces him to do anything for you. Why don't you torture _me_ , instead? Make him beg you to stop?"

Twilight looked between the two of them. Increasing anger and vehemence in her face. A growing spite flowing through her limbs.

"Good point," the Doctor agreed, grinning at Buffy. Then turned his head back to Twilight. "Brilliant point, actually. Go on! Torture her."

Twilight looked over at Buffy.

"Double dare you," Buffy said.

Twilight narrowed her eyes. With the flick of her wrist, she cracked the whip in the air. "Last chance."

The Doctor said nothing, just grinned.

"Come on, what are you, chicken?" Buffy shouted. "Make with the torture, already! I'm getting bored over here!"

Twilight's eyes bore into the Doctor and Buffy. As she stood there, stock still, her entire body emoting threat. Anger. Fury. Hatred. But didn't move a muscle.

"I'll do it," Twilight warned. "And worse besides. I have torture methods you couldn't even imagine. I can make her scream for death a thousand times over before I'm done."

"Not doing anything about it so far, are you?" the Doctor challenged, a twinkle in his eyes.

Twilight stayed like that a moment longer. Then dropped the whip to the ground, where it disappeared — as if it had never existed at all. And stepped away from them.

"So be it," said Twilight. "I won't use the TARDIS. I'll take my revenge without it. Destroy the universe — and every dimension, universe, and reality attached to it. I'll destroy everything in the entire infinity of creation, and it will be your fault, Doctor."

"Every dimension… including this one?" the Doctor asked. "The Axis?"

Twilight said nothing.

"Because that's why you really want the TARDIS," said the Doctor. "Not to limit the damage so it doesn't spread to any other universes. But to limit the damage so it doesn't wipe out the Axis. Make sure that, when the universe ends, Elizabeth and myself survive."

Twilight remained silent.

"Seo," Buffy called, gently. "You're still in there, aren't you?"

Twilight gave a skeptical laugh. "Seo is dead."

"No she isn't," Buffy replied. "Or you'd have killed us by now."

"Seo might have activated her regenerative energy," the Doctor said. "Let you out. But she didn't regenerate, herself. This is still her body, her mind. You never got a chance to reshape that."

"She might as well be dead," said Twilight. "She's trapped. Inside my mind. I am in full control of this body."

"In full control," the Doctor said, "except when it comes to the two of us. Can't kill us. Can't hurt us. Can't even get close enough to me to take away my TARDIS key."

Twilight didn't answer.

"Because Seo won't let you," the Doctor said. He gave a grin. "That's why, isn't it? It's why you hate us. Because Elizabeth and I — we're Seo's weak spots."

"You made Seo think she killed her parents, once," said Buffy. "You won't get her to do it, again."

"And you implanted that guilt so strongly in her mind, you're afraid that if you even hurt us," the Doctor said, "Seo will take back control, again. Kick you out."

Twilight seethed at them.

"Seo," Buffy called, her voice as soft and gentle as she could manage. "It's me. It's… Mom. I know you can hear me. Twilight wants to kill us. So… please. Let us go."

Twilight took a step forward, reaching out towards Buffy's chains. Then stopped. Backed up, an angry expression crossing her face. "No." She clenched her fists. "No! I can gain full control. I just have to kill this body. Let Seo regenerate. Then this vessel and its destructive power will be mine."

"Nah," the Doctor dismissed. "Course that won't work! You've already mucked that one up, trying to get her to regenerate in the first place."

"Really?" Buffy asked him. She laughed. "Wow. Hoist by his own… retard."

"Petard," the Doctor corrected.

"Whatever."

Twilight crossed her arms. "I'm in control," she reminded them. "My power has been focused into Seo's reserves of regenerative energy. Once she unleashes that, I will have the ability to reshape her mind, her body, and her personality. She will become clay in my hands. Ready to—"

"But you played up her guilt, in the hopes she'd kill herself, sooner," the Doctor interrupted. "Played up her anger. Her despair. Spent 98 years trying to convince her she really was the weapon of vengeance you wanted!"

"You convinced her she killed her own parents," Buffy put in. "Convinced her she destroyed her own universe."

"You tried to infect her with darkness," the Doctor said. "Despair. Anger. Resentment. Vengeance. So she would kill herself. You tried to make her a tool to do your dirty work. But, well, that's one thing Elizabeth and I have in common." He winked at Buffy. "We never blindly follow orders."

"Never," Buffy agreed.

"So you didn't imprint darkness onto her soul," said the Doctor. "You imprinted the opposite. You imprinted kindness and caring and love. Enthusiasm and excitement and brilliance. That'll last across _every_ regeneration. You trained her mind to be able to destroy anything, anywhere, but you trained her hearts to never, ever want to."

"So when she escaped her prison," said Buffy, "she didn't _want_ to destroy the universe. Didn't _want_ to become your genocide machine."

"All _she_ really wanted to do was find her mum," the Doctor added. "Find her family."

"And save the dad who raised her," Buffy added, "even if doing so would mean she'd never be free at all." She looked over at the Doctor. "Amazing kid."

"Brilliant," the Doctor agreed.

Twilight stood very still for several long moments. Then she doubled up, her eyes shut, an intense look of concentration on her face. She grunted, stumbling backwards, hands on her head, as if fighting an internal battle.

"That's it, Seo!" the Doctor shouted. "Chase that nasty entity out of your head!"

"Get that Twilight!" Buffy called out, at the same time. "Knock him down! Cut his throat!"

The Doctor gave Buffy a pointed stare. Arched an eyebrow at her. "'Cut his throat'?"

"It's a metaphor," Buffy lied.

"Twilight is still your child," the Doctor reminded her. "Just as much as Seo is. More so, in fact. Twilight actually existed in the real world, once. Seo never did."

Buffy gave him a challenging glare. "Yeah? Well, funny thing. Real or not, I still prefer the kid _without_ the 'homicidal maniac' gene."

Martha looked on at the scene before her. At Seo's form, as it gripped its head, teeth clenched and eyes shut. At Buffy and the Doctor, bantering at one another. About Seo.

And had an idea.

"Yeah, but… she still isn't really your child," Martha put in. "You're both just saving her because Buffy's the Slayer, and the Doctor's the Doctor, and you're both doing your duties. You don't actually love her."

Buffy shot Martha a glare. "Do you _want_ to know how hard a Slayer can slap someone?" she demanded. "Because you're getting pretty close to finding out."

"I'm just saying… the Doctor's right," Martha said. Her eyes still darting over to Seo, double checking to make sure this was working. Looked like it. "At least you conceived this… 'Twilight' naturally. Seo's just a genetic construct. A badly constructed imitation Time Lord. Even if she did actually exist in the real world, she's still not your child. You can't possibly—"

"What?" Buffy retorted. "Feel something for her? Love her? Act like she's a real person?" She bristled with anger. "Because I do. I can feel it, deep inside. I _know_. She's my daughter. And she's real, because I _say_ she's real." She looked over at the Doctor, anger burning through her. "Right?"

The Doctor faltered. "Well… thing is..."

Buffy gave him a glare that was intended to remind him that she was still a good deal stronger than him, and that she _would_ hit him very hard, if he gave the wrong answer to her question.

"Her real parents died, in her world," the Doctor said. "In this one, we're still alive. But with no Seo. Good match." He frowned. "Now there's something I never expected to have to say, again."

The pain increased on Seo's face, as the inner battle intensified.

"So she is real?" Martha confirmed. "She has the right to exist over this… 'Twilight'?"

The hunched over figure snapped up her head to glare at Martha, and in two seconds, she had grabbed Martha up by the throat, venom and rage in her expression.

"Well, it was worth a shot," Martha muttered.

"One more word," Twilight warned, "and I'll kill you. No questions asked."

Buffy opened her mouth to retort, but the Doctor held out a hand to silence her. A warning stare said all he needed — that Martha wasn't either of Seo's parents. Martha hadn't been in Seo's past. Martha wasn't one of Seo's weak spots — and therefore, Seo would never be able to regain control in time to save her.

Martha's life was up for grabs.

Twilight looked out at the Doctor and Buffy, tightening her grip around Martha. "You're right — Seo won't let me kill you two," she said. "Won't even let me harm you. But I can still kill Martha."

The Doctor and Buffy said nothing.

"Give me the TARDIS key, Doctor," Twilight demanded. "Or I kill your companion. Right here and now."

"Don't do it!" Martha shouted at the Doctor, but felt the hands bearing down on her throat, cutting off her air. She tried to remember everything she'd learned about victims of strangulation. How long she could survive without oxygen before her brain began to shut down. Before she suffered permanent injuries.

"All right!" the Doctor cut in. The chain around his right wrist, responding to his thought, began to loosen, stretching until he could dip his hand into his pocket. "I'll do it. Just let her go."

The hands around Martha's throat loosened, as Twilight grinned in triumph. "Wise decision, Doctor," she said. "Very, very wise… wise… wise… pies… fruit pies…"

The hands fell away, and Twilight stepped back, away from Martha.

"Chocolate pies!" she continued. "Or chocolate pies with chocolate filling, and chocolate crust. And then there are lies about pies — or is it lies about pi? 736. Could someone lie about pi? Who'd compute it out far enough to check? 736. India. A very weak mocha late. No ice. No price. That takes the fun out of a price check, doesn't it? 736. And bees! Buzzy bees. Buzzy, fuzzy…"

The Doctor grinned. "Oh, she's clever," he said. Then, using the hand still tucked into his pocket, grabbed up the sonic, instead. "Setting 736." Buzzed it against the chains, which fell away in an instant. "Might have taken me all day to work that out, on my own. Cause and effect being so wibbly, here."

He sprung forward, quickly freeing Buffy. Then rushed over to Martha.

Seo just stood there, unmoving, reciting random phrases and words strung together to create complete craziness.

"What's she…?" Buffy began.

"The creature's controlling Seo's mind by altering her mental brainwave patterns," the Doctor explained. "By spouting nonsense, Seo's cut off the pattern. Twilight can't get enough of a grip on her mind to take it over."

The last chain buzzed off Martha's wrist, falling to the ground.

The Doctor spun on his heel, racing across the ground, and grabbed up Buffy by the wrist, dragging her after him. "Martha," he called back, as he buzzed open the door to the prison cell, "keep an eye on Seo."

"Keep an eye on her?!" Martha cried, as the Doctor and Buffy stepped back out into the Axis. "Me? On _her_? Are you mad?"

"Brilliant!" the Doctor said, as if she'd said yes. "Just remember — whatever you do, don't let Seo regenerate!"

"But Doctor—!" Martha shouted, as the cell door clanged shut, again.

The Doctor buzzed it locked with his sonic, then raced off, still dragging Buffy along with him. Buffy tugged her hand out of the Doctor's grasp.

"We can't just leave Martha alone, in there!" she insisted. "Twilight can't kill the two of us, but it can kill Martha. She's going to—"

"Of the three of us, Martha was the only one who could bring Seo back," the Doctor pointed out to Buffy. "Besides. She's brilliant. She'll be fine." He gestured at Buffy to follow him, as he raced off into the distance. "And the two of us have things to do."

"Things like what?" Buffy asked, trying to follow.

The Doctor approached a door, and swung it open. To reveal… a bedroom. One strewn with bits of junk, odds and ends, a number of assembled machines and gadgets and devices. Drawings hastily fastened to the wall. A fair number of knick-knacks and pieces of junk laid out across the top of the dresser — as if they were somehow precious. And… a really large number of scorch marks, across the floor, where things had clearly blown up at some point in the past.

Buffy could guess whose room this was.

"Getting some answers," said the Doctor, as he grabbed up one of the devices, and examined it. "Should do the trick," he decided, tweaking it a little bit. "Specially with no all-powerful entities around to stop us from leaving." He hit a button on the side, and the device sprung into life, shimmering the nearby wall into a swirling portal of light, lapping gently at the air around it.

Buffy looked at it, warily. "Where's that going?"

The Doctor grinned at her, and offered her a hand.

Buffy sighed, but smiled as she took it. Because — despite mismatched timelines and tension over Seo and the time that had gone by since she'd last seen him — she still knew she'd follow him anywhere.

Together, they stepped into the light.


	41. Chapter 41

"You have returned," said Supreme Councilor Laom, the moment the Doctor and Buffy emerged into the realm of infinity that constituted the lair of the Powers that Be. He wasn't on his podium, anymore, but walked towards them, the other Councilors trailing behind him. "And, I trust, you have discovered, for yourselves, the threat Seosyrae poses to the entire universe. To every universe."

Buffy clenched her jaw, shooting the Doctor a glare. "You brought us back here? To these jerks?"

"Course I did," the Doctor replied. "We need answers. They have answers. Perfect match." He turned back to the Powers that Be. "Forgive her. She's a bit… passionate. Well, you know how humans are. Design flaw of her species."

"She disapproves of us, yes," Second Councilor Henadraia observed. "We can see that in her mind. But we can also see _your_ mind. And her anger and resentment is dwarfed by your own."

The Doctor said nothing for a few long moments. Just dropped Buffy's hand, and stuffed his own into his pockets.

"You show us respect," Supreme Councilor Laom said. "So you will be able to drop it, as a warning to us, if you don't like the answers we give. We know all, see all."

"Well, course you do," the Doctor agreed. "Saw everything, perfectly. Except 'Twilight'. Bit of a mistake, there. Deleting an entire timeline."

Supreme Councilor Laom just gave the Doctor a knowing smile. One that held no ill will, yet offered no friendship.

"But I'll let that drop, for the moment," the Doctor said. "Because I've been hearing a lot about you. Been making a lot of connections. Thinking through what it all means. And there is one question I have left for you." He gave them each a dark, demanding glare. "Which of you built the Zenuranium 12 temporal explosive device I found in Sunnydale?"

Buffy started at the name. Remembering the bomb she'd discovered, beneath her old high school. The bomb that had created the Hellmouth. Filled the Earth with monsters. Made Buffy's adolescence a walking nightmare.

"None of us," said Supreme Councilor Laom, simply. "We did not build the device."

The Doctor gave a sharp laugh. "Oh, come off it!" he said. "I wasn't born yesterday. Seo has the power to destroy anything or anyone in the multiverse. Toby might be frightened of her, but ultimately, he wants her power for himself. To wipe you out." He gave them a curious stare. "But _you_ don't want to wipe _him_ out. Why?"

"We are the forces of good," said Third Councilor Talcon. "We imprison. We do not kill."

"You were fine with killing Seo," Buffy retorted. "And she's not even your enemy."

"Seosyrae is a special circumstance," Third Councilor Talcon explained. "You have seen the power she carries within her. The creature must be destroyed, immediately, if we are to avert disaster."

"And since the deletion of its entire timeline has failed to destroy it," said Supreme Councilor Laom, "it seems we have no choice. The half-breed child Seosyrae must die. As soon as possible."

"But… but… she's innocent!" Buffy protested.

"What would you have us do?" asked Supreme Councilor Laom. "Spare Seosyrae and condemn untold billions to destruction? That is the choice we face here."

The Doctor shook his head, an involuntary laugh passing his lips. "And they don't even know they're doing it," he muttered.

"What?" Buffy asked him.

"He finds the situation amusing, because much the same thing was said to him, several lifetimes ago," Councilor Henadraia explained to Buffy. "By his own people. They condemned him to death, in order to prevent the re-emergence of Omega into our universe." She reflected on the information she'd just read from the Doctor's mind. "Yes, I suppose the two circumstances are similar."

"Oh, sorry, did I say they were similar?" the Doctor asked. "Because they're not. Not at all. I was nearly executed by my own people to prevent a great evil from entering our universe. You lot, on the other hand, are attempting to execute Seo to cover up the fact that you _let_ Toby loose on our universe."

Buffy frowned. "Wait, but… they didn't…"

"Of course they did," the Doctor replied. "I was on Krop Tor. I saw what happened. Black hole like that could have destroyed Toby flat out." He eyed the Powers that Be, warily. "Problem was… you _didn't_ want to destroy Toby. Never wanted to destroy Toby. You wanted to release him into our universe — severely weakened, but still a valid enemy for you to fight. That's why you built the Zenuranium 12 temporal explosive device. So you'd be able to let him back in."

"We did not build the device," Third Councilor Talcon reiterated. "We would not know how."

"No, Doctor, they're right," said Buffy, grabbing his arm. "That… Doctor-Protecting Entity told me. _He_ let the First into this universe. To lure it into a trap and prevent a war in the distant future."

"The Embarrassment told the truth," Fifth Councilor Vaya said. "He is to blame for the Beast of Krop Tor's re-emergence in this universe."

The Doctor said nothing for a long moment. His face falling into shadow. "Ah," he said, very quietly. "I see." He thought a moment longer, then ventured, "How old was she, when she built it?"

"Still fairly young, we imagine," Third Councilor Talcon offered. "We don't know for sure."

Buffy stared between the Doctor and the Powers that Be. "Huh?"

The Doctor leaned down, and, in a low voice, whispered to Buffy, "Well, I've never met Seo's dad, but if he has Rose's soul — I know he'd never let Toby into this universe for the reason you gave. Committing a minor evil, in the present, to prevent a war in the distant future? Not Rose at all."

Buffy frowned. The Doctor was right. Rose was… impulsively nice. Always acting to protect people in the short term, without necessarily thinking through the longer consequences.

"But," the Doctor continued, "it does sound suspiciously like something you or I would come up with."

Buffy felt the sudden shock of realization crash across her. As she understood… who the Doctor was talking about. And why she would want to build a device that could open up a dimensional prison.

"No," Buffy breathed. " _Seo_ …?"

"Built the device," the Doctor confirmed. "To escape. Never used it, though. Thought better of it. Point to her." He glanced over his shoulder at the Powers that Be. "Problem is… then this lot came into the Axis, one day, to check up on Seo's dad. Sure, he hid her away, but didn't notice the Zenuranium 12. But this lot did. And _they_ actually _did_ want to use it. Probably had been looking for something like that for a while, at that point, to let Toby through into our universe. And… well, to stop the Powers that Be from asking a lot of awkward questions about where the device came from…"

"He gave it to them," Buffy said. "To save Seo's life." And… damn it! Saving the child you loved like your own, even if doing so eventually wound up creating a hole in the universe? Yeah, that was Rose all over.

Seo had probably come up with the Scythe idea, later, to try to make up for her mistakes.

(Which was why she'd known so much about the Scythe, back in Scotland.)

"But why do the Powers that Be want the First here?" Buffy asked. "I thought they nearly killed themselves defeating him in the previous universe."

"Light always casts a shadow," said Councilor Ezixil. "The Balance must be upheld. We required—"

"You got bored," the Doctor cut in. He strolled towards them. "That's all it was! Boredom. Plain and simple! All the other pan-dimensional creatures packed up after the Time War. And you lot stayed behind. You got bored and decided to do the only thing you could think of. Resume your old war. Against your old enemy. And use the Seeds to let the 'lesser beings' fight your battles for you."

For a moment, no one said anything. The silence speaking louder than any words could.

"You mean it's true?!" Buffy demanded.

"Warfare is useful, in the lesser species," said Second Councilor Henadraia. "Fighting encourages progress."

"Has it?" the Doctor retorted. "Has it really? Or is this just all you know, now? Is the slaughter of innocents the only thing you lot still remember how to do, after millennia of fighting and bloodshed?"

Supreme Councilor Laom seemed vaguely amused by the Doctor's vehemence. "First you are angry because we will not kill the Beast of Krop Tor," he noted. "Now, you are angry because we kill our enemies. Your argument doesn't hold together."

"I think it holds together fine," said Buffy. "You got bored. You brought the First back into this universe. And that was great for you, because you're unkillable, and the First is unkillable. So you guys could fight forever, and never actually kill each other." She crossed her arms. "That's why you're so eager to get rid of Seo. Because Seo introduces Death into your conflict. Death for all — mortal and immortal."

"With Seo around, you lot become mortal, again," the Doctor said. "Well, essentially. And suddenly, your war might start having consequences you can see."

"And if Cordelia was anything to go by," said Buffy, "the rest of the Powers that Be — who _aren't_ running things — don't know that Seo can kill anyone or anything. That's why you're so frantic to get rid of Seo, right away. Because if you don't, the rest of your people will start to realize there's this great big weapon out there, and you're not using it."

"Covering your tracks," the Doctor confirmed. "That's all this is, in the end. Political maneuvering, so the others don't realize _you're_ the ones who let Toby into this universe."

The Councilors stood there, a moment, not saying anything, just studying the Doctor and Buffy with calculating eyes.

"You disapprove," said Second Councilor Henadraia, "of our motives."

The Doctor and Buffy looked at one another. Then back at the Councilors. "Yes!" they both shouted, in unison.

"But you still agree that Seosyrae poses a threat to this universe — to every universe — due to the power she contains," said Second Councilor Henadraia. "A power she cannot control."

The Doctor and Buffy didn't answer. Because they knew… they couldn't deny this.

"Both of you have made sacrifices to save the universe, before," said Second Councilor Henadraia. "Regardless of our real motives, the reality of the situation remains the same. While Seosyrae lives, Twilight lives, and the universe remains in danger. She must be destroyed."

Buffy and the Doctor looked at one another. Both realizing that… it was true. They'd both given up far more to save the universe.

"Then you agree," Supreme Councilor Laom said, with a soft smile. "Seosyrae will die. You will help us."

"To conceal your mistake?" the Doctor asked. "To cover up the fact that you let Toby into this universe? To cover up the fact that you deleted a timeline, and weren't prepared to face the consequences?"

"We made no mistake with Twilight," Supreme Councilor Laom replied.

"Deleted a timeline — just to prevent the destruction of the Seed of Wonder!" the Doctor said. "You didn't care about this universe at all. Hoped maybe the next one would be more interesting. If it wasn't for your little miscalculation with the Seeds, you'd have been perfectly fine letting Twilight do whatever it was supposed to do."

"The Supreme Councilor is correct," Fifth Councilor Vaya told him. "We made no mistake with the Twilight timeline."

"And the best bit is… all this work, all your efforts to protect your precious 'Seeds', and in the end… Seo's dad still won!" the Doctor said. "Got the better of you. Destroyed the Seed of Wonder, and probably many Seeds besides. Sent me off to get rid of the rest. The Seeds are gone, and it's only a matter of time before your dimension notices the change, and you lot are sealed off from the rest of existence."

Once again, amusement from Supreme Councilor Laom. "We made no mistake, Doctor," he said. "The Embarrassment might not have anticipated the consequences of his actions. We did. The Twilight timeline has been erased. The Embarrassment was the one to erase it. We arranged this. There was no mistake."

"No, no, no," the Doctor said. "Don't give me that. You couldn't possibly have predicted… all… the…" He stopped. Trailed off. As something seemed to click together in his mind. He stared at the Powers that Be, a sudden horror sweeping across his face. "You… kept him conscious. Even imprisoned. You kept him conscious."

"It is necessary," Fifth Councilor Vaya said.

"Just as the Weapon's birth was necessary," said Third Councilor Talcon. "Just as her salvation was inevitable. And her destruction vital. Our only mistake was our failure to predict the time of the Weapon's arrival — and, of course, allowing Buffy to meet _you_ , Doctor."

"We should never have allowed the potential for that energy to manifest inside someone as powerful and destructive as Seosyrae," Fourth Councilor Ezixil agreed. "It could destroy everything. Everywhere."

"As much as I find the notion distasteful," said Councilor Henadraia, "the late General Andor had a point, when he suggested that your premature death — at the hands of the vampires, or otherwise — might be preferable. Even our ancient enemy, the Beast of Krop Tor, thought so."

The Doctor said nothing.

"We must deal with the situation at hand," Supreme Councilor Laom scolded the others. "The Weapon has been born, saved, and must now be disposed of. If she is not, everything everywhere could be destroyed."

"Yeah, good luck with that," said Buffy. "Because we're not helping you." She tugged at the Doctor's arm, expecting him to follow her out of there, but he didn't come.

She glanced up at the Doctor, who was still silent. His eyes still fixed on the Powers that Be. His face still grave.

"All right," the Doctor said to the Powers that Be, at long last. "I'll do it. Where is she?"

Buffy's jaw dropped. "You can't actually—?!"

"I have to," the Doctor said, his voice steady and cold. "Now that I understand what I'm dealing with."

Supreme Councilor Laom gave the Doctor a warm smile. "He has finally understood what we have always understood," he explained to Buffy. "What the Weapon is. Why she must be destroyed. What the alternative would be."

"You remember what it was like, for you," Fifth Councilor Vaya said to the Doctor. "You wiped out an entire species to save a single life. You know she could do the same."

"She doesn't have to," said the Doctor. "She could make another choice."

"And you know what that would mean for her," Third Councilor Talcon said. "If she did. The pain it would cause. Her own death might be preferable to that."

The Doctor said nothing.

"You disapprove," said Supreme Councilor Laom. "But you'll still do it. To stop Seo from committing genocide. And to protect her from the alternative. You will spare her the pain of her choice, and destroy her. Completely."

The Doctor looked down at the ground. "Yes," he said, through his teeth.

"Then we will transport you both to the planet Peladon," said Fifth Councilor Vaya. "The entity inside Seosyrae has taken control, the Weapon has already broken free from the Axis, and the destruction of the universe has begun. You must eliminate Seosyrae completely."

"Despite the Slayer's protests," Fourth Councilor Ezixil added.

The Doctor nodded. Took Buffy's hand. And turned towards the portal the Powers that Be had opened for them, in the middle of the room.

"If it makes any difference, we offered her a chance to surrender," Councilor Henadraia called after them. "Seo's fate is her own doing."

The Doctor stopped. Didn't bother looking back at them.

"A chance," he said. "You say… you offered… a chance." He shook his head. "You don't even remember what those words mean."

Then, in a single step, he and Buffy departed through the portal.

The Councilors all looked at one another. Their expressions grave.

"Andor was right," Henadraia confirmed to the Supreme Councilor. "The Time Lord has a will of his own. As does the Slayer."

"It suggests that the half-breed, Seosyrae, will prove equally obstinate," said Talcon. "She shares her mother's passion, her father's ruthlessness. If she is presented with the choice, she will choose genocide over mercy."

"And even if she chooses to sacrifice herself, her parents would never forgive us," said Vaya. "They will fight against us for the rest of their lives."

"They will do that, anyways," said Talcon. "It is inevitable, now. The Doctor and Buffy are our enemies. And together, they are extremely powerful."

Supreme Councilor Laom absorbed this. "We must fill out the correct paperwork," he said. "Consult precedent. See what Buffy and the Doctor decide to do in regards to Seosyrae. And act accordingly."


	42. Chapter 42

"The only reason I haven't hit you, yet," Buffy told the Doctor, as they emerged onto Peladon directly beside the TARDIS, "is because I'm half-convinced this is all a huge bluff, and you've actually got a completely clever plan to make everything good, again."

The Doctor didn't answer. Just went into his ship.

"Or… not," Buffy sighed, following him inside. She shut the doors behind her, watching him wander around the TARDIS central console, poking and prodding at buttons. Every so often, brushing a troubled hand through his hair.

Buffy cleared her throat, to get his attention.

The Doctor clutched the central console, his expression bitter. "I won't kill her, if I can help it," he said. Not willing to look at Buffy. He hit the TARDIS console, angrily. "There has to be another way."

Buffy nodded slowly. "Okay," she said. "I'm guessing… you've just worked something out that makes you supremely pissed. And you're not planning to tell me any of it."

The Doctor's silence was all the confirmation she needed.

"But I do know it's got something to do with the Seeds," Buffy said. "And why there's still the First and the Powers that Be and demon armies and craziness going on, even though all the Seeds have been destroyed."

"The Powers that Be got their software patch upgrade," the Doctor said. Trying at the console, again. "By erasing Twilight."

Buffy frowned. "Huh?"

"I said it myself," the Doctor said. "Twilight has enough energy to demolish and rebuild an entire dimension. When they erased it — all that energy had to go somewhere." He sighed. "Problem was, I didn't realize _they'd_ worked that out, too."

"No… still no idea what you're talking about," Buffy said.

The Doctor looked up at her. "I thought I could reason with Twilight," he said. "Convince it to see sense. But I can't. Because the Powers that Be have stripped it away. Driven it mad. What's inside of Seo, now — it's unreasoning, brutal destruction. All powers to create, nurture, alter — they've been allocated elsewhere."

Buffy felt her head spinning. "But… but… why does that mean we have to kill Seo?"

"Because I can't separate out the Twilight energy from Seo unless it's all together!" the Doctor replied. "And I can't…" He stopped. Then dropped his head, staring back down at the console. "I can't ask Seo to do that."

"Do what?" Buffy asked.

The Doctor didn't answer.

"Doctor, what choice are you trying to protect Seo from?" Buffy asked.

"Choice," the Doctor muttered. "There was no choice." He shook his head, bitterly. "A choice between killing herself, and turning herself into the weapon she was meant to be. That's the choice!" His fingers tightened around the central console. "That… or do the unthinkable."

Buffy felt something in her heart sink. As she remembered what the Powers that Be had told the Doctor — about his own choice, with the vampires. "You… want to stop her," Buffy whispered, "from committing genocide. Wiping out the Powers that Be."

The Doctor said nothing.

"But she could make the right choice!" Buffy said. "She could choose not to—"

"And what if that _isn't_ the right choice?" the Doctor demanded, spinning around to face Buffy. "There's a war going on. A war between the higher dimensional beings, that's bleeding through into the visible universe. Causing untold death, destruction, and devastation on every planet, across every time. I've lived through a war like that. I've seen its destructive potential." His fists clenched a little tighter. "And _that_ war wasn't voluntary."

Buffy said nothing.

"No one can stop this war," said the Doctor, "because both sides want to fight it, and neither can die. No one… except Seo."

"But… but… Seo doesn't have to wipe out the Powers that Be!" Buffy insisted. "She could just destroy the First! You said, yourself, he should have been destroyed back on Krop—"

"And if she gets rid of him, the Powers that Be will grow bored, and find a new enemy to fight," the Doctor said. "Or, worse, decide to end the universe, again."

Buffy stared at him. Realizing why the Doctor had grown so angry. Understanding the injustice of the situation.

"Well, what if she just kills the leaders of the Powers that Be?" said Buffy. "The others don't know what's going on. They'd still—"

"She doesn't have that much control over the energy," the Doctor said. "And even if she did… they all chose to Ascend. Everyone that survived from that universe — all the Powers that Be — they are of the same mindset. The next leaders would do exactly the same."

Damn. Damn!

The Doctor was right. The only way to end this, the only way to stop the destruction and devastation forever — was to turn Seo into a weapon. Use her as a genocide machine. Make her wipe out the Powers that Be and the First, together, all at once.

"We'd destroy her," Buffy said.

"Yes."

"Tear her apart from the inside!" Buffy said. "Confirming every one of her fears! Our own daughter, and we'd have to just… use her like that!"

"Do you think I don't know that?" the Doctor snapped.

For a few moments, neither of them said anything.

"She could run," said Buffy, at long last. "Hide. Not end anything."

The Doctor looked up at her. Meeting her eyes with his own.

"It wouldn't help," Buffy accepted. "I get that. But... the universe isn't in any immediate danger from the Powers that Be. Not more now than before."

The Doctor paused. Then, with some reluctance, gave a sigh. "Suppose you're right."

"This isn't Seo's war," said Buffy. "We can't drag her into it, just because we've got bad experiences."

The Doctor thought this over a moment. Then shook his head. "Wouldn't work," he said. "Twilight's still inside her head, remember? I can't get him out."

"But if Seo takes back control…" Buffy proposed.

"Then what?" The Doctor shook his head. "You know how tricky it is to trap a monster inside your mind? Keep it there, forever, dormant? Difficult enough at my age, and Seo's just a kid."

"Yeah, I remember," said Buffy. She kicked her shoe against the TARDIS grating. "Facksisil of Balime. Where Seo's world began."

The Doctor stopped. Froze. His eyes staring at Buffy. "Facksisil…" he started. Then his eyes lit up, and he sprinted across the console room, a suddenly happy grin dancing across his face. "Oh, brilliant! Brilliant!"

Buffy stared at him. "You… know…? But, but Carmen and the Facksisil of Balime — that's all in your future!"

"Carmen?" the Doctor asked, removing a panel of grating from the floor and digging through a storage area underneath it. "Who's Carmen?"

Oh. Okay, then. So… that _was_ in his future.

"Ha!" the Doctor said, bringing out a large red crystal from the storage area. He beamed at Buffy. "Knew I had another one lying about."

Buffy's jaw fell open. "But… but that looks like…"

The Doctor shoved the grating back on the floor, and leapt to his feet. "A TARDIS crystal," he explained, hooking it up to the central console and flicking some switches around — programming it, Buffy assumed. "Bigger on the inside. Used one of these, with Romana, when we trapped the Facksisil of Balime. Back in an earlier life."

Buffy felt her head reeling. " _You_ trapped the Facksisil of Balime?" she asked.

"Found it, named it, trapped it, then wandered around the universe warning people not to mess with it," the Doctor replied, continuing to fiddle around with the crystal. "That was the problem, see. People didn't know what it was. Thought the Facksisil of Balime was some universal phenomena that, when studied, would lead them to uncover the secrets of time travel."

Buffy wasn't really sure how… but okay.

"When actually," the Doctor said, yanking the crystal off the central console, "it'd swallow up the world and turn it into a living hell."

"Yeah, that's the story _I_ got," Buffy said.

The Doctor winked at her. And Buffy had the unnerving feeling that that entire prophecy had originally come from the Doctor, himself.

"One more thing I need," the Doctor said, racing into the back rooms of the TARDIS, "and then it's goodbye monster, welcome back Seo!"

Which… wouldn't end this war. Wouldn't stop the Powers that Be. Wouldn't stop the First. Wouldn't save countless lives, prevent countless amounts of destruction and devastation, undo a fully preventable cycle of violence. But would allow Seo to run, hide, and survive.

And it was at that moment — as Buffy ran down the halls of the TARDIS — that she realized Jackie had been right.

Buffy wasn't the Slayer. Not anymore.

She was a mom.

* * *

"They have discovered another way," said Supreme Councilor Laom.

Ezixil looked back at their captured prisoner. "It seems the Embarrassment has been craftier than we imagined, in his revenge against us," he said. "He embedded clues into the Doctor and Buffy's pasts, to show them what they needed to do."

"He knew that the child would seek Buffy out, when she arrived on Earth," said Henadraia. "He gave her the means to contact the Doctor. He gave the two of them the clues they needed to figure out who we were, and what we'd done." She looked over at him, with respect in her eyes. "It seems the Embarrassment, even in his confinement, has proven to be a more formidable adversary than we'd thought."

"If they succeed," said Talcon, "in trapping Twilight inside the red crystal — the Doctor will have the evidence he needs. The evidence of what we've done, in a way that he could show everyone."

Laom nodded. "We will wait until they have taken care of Seosyrae. Then, we will cut off all ways to arrive in this realm, save for the TARDIS." He gave a smile. "They will come here. For the Embarrassment. And the moment they do, we give the Doctor and Buffy a choice. Either they serve us faithfully, loyally, without any hesitation or doubt, without the slightest question as to our decisions. Or… they remain here. Imprisoned for eternity, until they see reason."

"And the Doctor's companion?" asked Henadraia.

"Will be released," said Laom. "We are not cruel. She has done nothing wrong, and thus, may go free."

"And Seosyrae?" asked Ezixil.

Laom said nothing for a long moment.

"Will be eliminated," he said, at last. "Even if they remove Twilight from her, Seosyrae's essence is still evil. We cannot risk letting a primitive, poorly constructed half-breed like her contain such evil. Therefore, we cannot afford to keep her alive."


	43. Chapter 43

Martha had seen the struggle. And it had been an impressive struggle. Seo had made a grab for complete control, but Twilight had thrown her back, resumed its previous dominance, and taken over.

Twilight had grabbed Martha, and escaped back onto Peladon. The… slanted dimension, people-less version of Peladon. Which Martha couldn't help but think was weird, because — didn't Twilight want to cause the maximum amount of death and devastation?

"You have a TARDIS key," said Twilight, dragging Martha along. "You can open it for me."

"And do what?" Martha challenged. "You don't know where the Doctor and Buffy are. You can't program the TARDIS to save only them, if you don't know where they are."

Twilight didn't answer this.

Nor did Twilight seem to be heading towards the TARDIS, at all. Which was also odd. Instead, they were walking around the forested area outside the stone fortress, the cloudy gray sky looking stormy overhead.

Every so often, Twilight would raise up its hands, and an Aggedor would suddenly appear before them, leaping through the dimensional barrier. The Aggedor would look surprised.

Then, with a burst of energy, Twilight would kill it.

"I thought you wanted to destroy the universe!" Martha said. "Not kill off a few wild animals."

"Every time I open the dimensional barriers, I weaken them that much more," said Twilight. "Eventually, they will all tumble down around us. Every dimensional barrier will fall, and this dimension will be overrun. Destroyed."

"Eventually?" Martha said. She'd thought Seo had enough power to literally split open the dimensional walls. Buffy had certainly believed Seo could do things like that — easily. So why wasn't…?

"Oh," said Martha. "I get it. Seo won't let you."

Twilight gritted her teeth, but didn't answer.

"You might have won the battle," said Martha, "but Seo's still fighting back. And she's a lot more clever and resourceful than you thought."

Twilight turned on Martha, squeezing her arm so tight, Martha thought it might break. "You!" Twilight spat at her, pointing a finger in her face. "This is your fault!"

Martha tried to release herself from Twilight's clutches, but found she was trapped, fast.

"I am real," Twilight said. "Seo isn't. But you convinced her she was! You convinced her she had more right to exist than I did!"

"She does," said Martha. "It's her body. She has a right to live in it!"

"And what about _me_?!" shouted Twilight. "Should I be denied my existence just because a bunch of pencil-pushing bureaucratic half-wits decided to get rid of me? Should I be denied my moment of destruction, just because they've denied me my moment of creation?"

And Martha could see a pain in those brown eyes. The pain of injustice.

"I'm sorry," said Martha. And she meant it. "I know that the Powers that Be hurt you. But you can't just kick Seo out of her own body because you want your revenge. It's not right."

Twilight dropped Martha, shoving her away. Then the creature clutched its head, fingers entangled in blond strands.

"She was supposed to be like me," Twilight said. "Seosyrae. The girl who was used and manipulated since she was born. The girl created for destruction and revenge. It's how they made her! How I shaped her! We were supposed to destroy the universe _together_!"

Martha regained her balance. Ventured a little closer to Twilight.

"Why?" Twilight shouted. "Why is she fighting back? Why is she locking me out?"

Martha ventured closer, still. And realized… that Twilight was crying.

She hadn't known that sentient dimensions could cry.

"Seo doesn't _want_ vengeance," Martha said.

"But that doesn't make sense!" said Twilight. "She was crafted as a weapon, as a force for evil and death. Did nothing wrong, herself, yet was condemned and incarcerated for 98 years. She's spent nearly a century isolated, able to speak to no one, hunted down by the Powers that Be as if she were nothing! Everything she's ever had or wanted was stolen from her. Every hope she ever held in her hearts is gone. She should be screaming out at the universe! She should be tearing the walls of this reality apart, out of rage and hatred and spite! And instead…"

"Instead, she just wants her family," Martha said.

Remembering her own family. Her mum. Her dad. Leo and Tish. Her crazy, dysfunctional family — but she loved them. Would do anything for them.

And if her family were in trouble — Martha knew, in her heart, she'd do the same as Seo. Fight off any monster, make any sacrifice, just to ensure they were safe.

Twilight didn't answer. Tears still streaming down her cheeks.

"Do _you_ have a family?" Martha asked.

"I created myself," Twilight snapped, hostility buried within its voice. "My father and my mother were just pawns I manipulated to guarantee my creation. And as reward, they were to shape the new universe. Become the rulers of a more perfect dimension."

And that was why, Martha realized. Why Twilight couldn't understand.

"You don't feel love," Martha said.

"I'm a sentient dimension," said Twilight. "I am destruction and creation. Stripped away until there was nothing left. Nothing but destruction. I don't need 'love'."

Martha stepped in, closer. Held out her hand, and rested it against the girl's shoulder.

"But Seo loves," Martha said. "She loves her parents. She loves her dad. And she…" Martha paused, then gave a little laugh, "…she even fancies a bloke, back on Earth!"

The girl went very still. Very quiet. Then, in a small voice, "Xander."

Martha almost jumped.

The girl looked up, brown eyes meeting Martha's. "His name," she said, "is Xander. And he is the bravest, sweetest, most amazing human being I've ever met."

"Seo!" said Martha. "You're…"

Seo clutched at Martha, as if she were worried she'd fall over. There was still an intense concentration in her face, a tension in every limb of her body. She was still fighting, Martha realized. Still trying, desperately, to stay outside.

"He only had one eye," Seo told Martha. "I should have been invisible to him. But he saw me. He sees everything." Her hands shook a little, with the strain of the mental battle. "And… and… he only has one life. But he tried to give it up. To save me. From this."

Seo wobbled, and nearly fell against the ground, Martha catching her at the last moment.

"You're going to be all right," Martha said, helping her up. "You hear that? I'm not going to let you—"

"Help me," Seo pleaded, severe pain in her eyes. "Please. Help me!"

And Martha was overcome by that same feeling she'd had, back on the _SS Pentallian_ , when the Doctor had been getting taken over by that Sentient Sun creature, and he'd grabbed her up and told her that he was scared, so scared. It was the feeling of being overwhelmed, of needing to do something, but not being sure what to do.

Then, like the answer to all her prayers…

"Martha, hold her!" came a familiar British sounding voice.

Martha grabbed at Seo, held her still, as the Doctor rushed over, a gun-looking device in hand, Buffy running right behind. Martha hesitated. Wanted to ask the Doctor what he was doing — but, no. This was the Doctor.

Martha believed in him. And held Seo down.

The Doctor stopped running, a meter away, and pulled the trigger. A bright, burning gold and silver light was pulled out of Seo, and she began to writhe, scream, struggle and try to get away. Buffy rushed over, helping Martha to hold Seo down. As the energy was dragged out of her, sucked into the gun and then into the red crystal attached to it.

And then… it was over.

The Doctor dropped the gun, looking at Seo with a haunted sort of disgust in his eyes. "That was something I never wanted to do to anyone," he muttered.

"What… did you do?" asked Martha. She looked down at Seo, who was breathing steadily, but unconscious.

"He took away all her regenerations," said Buffy. She brushed some hair out of Seo's face, with a tenderness that Martha had rarely seen in her. "And Twilight with them."

Oh. Of course. Because if Twilight had been hiding in Seo's regenerative energy, then the easiest way to get rid of it was to remove her regenerations.

The Doctor dismantled the gun, stuffing the bits in his pockets. "Did what the Powers that Be wanted," he said. "Killed her. Twelve times over." He paused, when he got to the red crystal. Squinted at it, as if trying to see inside.

"Did it work?" Buffy asked him.

"Only one way to find out," said the Doctor, stuffing the red crystal into a pocket. He rushed over to Seo, knelt down by her head, and touched his fingers to her temples — briefly.

Seo's eyes flew open, and she jumped up. Looking around her, in surprise.

"Psychic jolt," the Doctor told her. "No harm done. Just jump-starting your synapses. How you feel?"

Seo rubbed her hands against her arms, shivering as if from the cold. "Different."

"How… different?" asked Buffy. "Homicidal maniac let's-destroy-the-universe different? Or… different different?"

"Different different," said Seo. She sniffed the air, then wrinkled her nose. She turned to the Doctor. "You smell like… tingly, crisp-cool time stuff."

"Ah, yes, that'd be the artron you're smelling," the Doctor said. He produced the red crystal from his pocket, and showed it to Seo. "Your regenerations."

Martha glanced over at Buffy. Both sharing a lost expression. Neither one could smell anything. And… what would tingly, crisp-cool time smell like, anyways?

Seo peered at the crystal. Reached out for it, hesitated, then pulled her hand back.

"I couldn't separate your regenerations from Twilight," the Doctor said. "So I took them away. Sorry about that." He offered her the red crystal. "You can keep it, if you want."

Seo shook her head. Backing away from it. "You keep it," she said.

The Doctor grinned at her.

She looked down at her hands, turning them over and over, studying them carefully. "One life," she said. "One life left."

"All the cool people only have one life," said Buffy, giving the Doctor a challenging smile. "Like me. And Martha. And Xander."

This seemed to make Seo perk up, a little. "I can be normal!" she said. "Like humans!" Her eyes lit up, and a burst of happiness shone through her expression. "Ooh! Does that mean I'll show up in photos? I've always wanted to show up in photos!"

The Doctor scratched the back of his neck. "Ah," he said. "No. Actually. Couldn't fix that. You're still… a bit…" he struggled for a word that wouldn't be rude, "…anomalous, genetically. And you will probably continue to instinctively try to work out how to destroy anyone and anything you encounter — that's been hard wired in. But you won't be able to kill eternals with only a subconscious thought. And you won't suddenly get possessed by mad sentient dimensions who want to use you to destroy the universe."

Seo's happiness dropped a hair. "So… I'm not normal," she said. "Not like everyone else on Earth."

Buffy sighed. "Seo," she said. "No one on Earth is 'normal'. Trust me. We humans are all completely crazy and weird in our own special ways." She grinned at the Doctor. "I think that's why he likes us so much."

Seo digested this. Then turned to Martha, to verify it.

"Basically, yes," Martha confirmed. "That's how the world works."

The Doctor jumped to his feet, offering Seo a hand up. "Well," he said, as the group got back to their feet. "Small matter of rescuing Seo's dad, but after that, looks like everything's going to be fine and dandy. Just have to pop by the Powers that Be, show that crystal to the right people, and they'll release…" He stopped. The happy expression on his face melting into one of concern.

"What…?" Buffy started, but then she stopped, too. The exact same expression appearing on her face. "Oh, no."

The Doctor raised up the red crystal. "Must be tracking this," he said. "All this energy, outside of the shielding Seo's body afforded it — must be like a beacon."

"A beacon for what?" Martha asked. But then she heard it. Heard the high pitched screech of evil creatures, lurking nearby. The snarl of vampires. The hiss of monsters.

"Split up?" the Doctor asked Buffy.

"Split up," Buffy agreed, grabbing the Doctor by the wrist and yanking him after her.

The Doctor only just had time to glance back at Martha, and mime, 'look after Seo', before he was tugged into a cluster of trees, and out of Martha's sight.

The sounds of the evil creatures shifted. Turning away from Martha and Seo. Turning to chase the Doctor and Buffy.

Seo noticed, as well. Her eyes on the trees. Then she began to run after the Doctor and Buffy — but Martha noticed, and caught her by the hand before she could get too far.

"They're in trouble!" Seo insisted.

Yeah, the Doctor spent most of his life in trouble. And, from what Martha could tell, Buffy did basically the same thing.

"They know what they're doing," said Martha. She guessed they were probably running back to the TARDIS, so they could ditch the red crystal. "If they want you out of the way, they've got a good reason."

At least, Martha sure hoped so.

Seo looked between Martha, and the forest where Buffy and the Doctor had run off. Martha could see that indecision inside of her. The desire to live up to her parents' expectations, follow the plan, show them that she could be a good kid. Countered by the resistance to authority, the natural independence of her own mind, and that strong need, inside of her, to help others no matter what. Help those in trouble.

Then her eyes lit up, and she turned on Martha, a smile on her lips.

"We can check on them!" she said. "From the Axis!"

Martha stared at her. "We can?"

"Yes!" said Seo. "And without my dad around to keep the dimensional walls impenetrable — if my real parents get into trouble, we can use the Axis as a branching off point to get to anywhere and anywhen! And rescue them!"

Martha smiled. "That's… a good idea," she said. "A very good idea.

Seo beamed — beamed the Doctor's happy beam, complete with a bounce on her toes and a twinkle in her eyes. Then she spun around, racing back towards the dimension hopping machine in the stone fortress.

"And while we're there," she called back, "we can rescue my dad!"


	44. Chapter 44

Buffy and the Doctor had, without needing to discuss it, both thought the same thing. Run back to the TARDIS, ditch the red crystal, regroup, then figure out what to do next.

Without the silver energy, Seo was completely untraceable. And Martha, hopefully, would be level-headed enough to keep Seo out of trouble. Or… okay, out of too much trouble.

It was only when Buffy and the Doctor arrived at the TARDIS that they realized… the First would probably be expecting them to run there. And would, no doubt, be waiting for them.

Which, as it turned out, the First was.

Legions of evil creatures — Bringers, Uber-Vamps, demons, etc. — sprung out at them from where they were hiding, around and behind the TARDIS. Grabbed Buffy and the Doctor, trying to pin them down so that they couldn't fight back.

Buffy tried to get out of it. Tried to punch out and kick and struggle. But there were too many, coming at her all at once, and in the end, they tackled her, stomach-down, against the ground, arms and legs restrained, and there was nothing else Buffy could do.

One of the Bringers unsheathed his knife, poising it above Buffy's back.

Buffy squeezed her eyes shut. With no All-Powerful Willow or All-Powerful Seo around, anymore, Buffy was guessing this was it. She'd be dead for good, this time. No coming back.

"Wait!" shouted the Doctor. "You need us alive."

The blow from the knife never came.

Buffy opened her eyes, and tried to look behind her, at the Doctor — who'd been restrained by five monsters, holding him firmly against the side of the TARDIS so he couldn't move a muscle.

And appearing in front of him was a perfect image of… stupid-hat girl. Romana.

She gave a soft, proud laugh. "Do I really, Doctor?" she asked. "I thought I only needed _you_ alive."

The Doctor seemed a little startled by the apparition, but hid it well. Narrowed his eyes at her. "You need her alive… so you can find Seo."

The First considered this. "Well, I suppose so," she said. "Although…" She glanced over at one of the Bringers, who revealed the red crystal in its hand. "…I don't really need Seo, anymore. I have her destructive power, right here." The First leaned into the Doctor, a cruel smile on her lips. "Besides," she whispered to him, "I really, _really_ hate that Slayer."

The Bringer above Buffy seemed to take this as a sign, and plunged the knife down towards Buffy.

"You can't get it out!" the Doctor shouted.

The First raised up its hand, and the Bringer stopped, its knife an inch from Buffy's skin.

"Explain," the First demanded of the Doctor.

"The energy is in that crystal, yes, but it's trapped," the Doctor said. "I locked the crystal. Made sure only one person could get the energy out. Which means… you can't get it out. And I can't get it out."

"But Buffy Summers can," the First guessed.

"No, she can't, either," the Doctor said. "The only person who can access those regenerations is the one who _should_ be able to access them. Seo."

The First's face turned grim.

"And Seo scares you," the Doctor continued, his voice low. "She scares you a lot. Because, when she releases that energy, she'll be able to harness it. And if she harnesses that energy, you know she'll be able to kill you with only a thought. And you don't know if you'll be able to control her mind."

"I cannot predict Seosyrae," the First said. "But I can predict Twilight. It would be a simple matter to take the Weapon over, and use her for myself."

"Oh, brilliant!" the Doctor said, with a laugh. "And I'll bet Twilight knows that, too. So the moment you release Twilight, it'll run and hide, again, and you'll be left with Seo. The one you _can't_ control."

The First studied the Doctor, for a long moment. "I see," it said. Then gestured at the Bringer, who stepped away from Buffy, and sheathed the knife. "You want me to realize that, while I can't control Seosyrae, I can control the two of you quite easily. You want me to spare the Slayer's life, so I can use her as the axe over Seosyrae's neck, threatening to fall whenever the Weapon rebels."

"I'd have gone with the 'Sword of Damocles' metaphor, myself," the Doctor said. "But the idea's the same."

The First considered, a long moment. "And why can't I use _you_ as my Sword of Damocles?" it asked. "Kill the Slayer, once and for all?"

The Doctor looked offended. "What, and give up your new corporeal vessel? Thought that was the whole point of kidnapping me, in the first place."

The First gave a small grin. "Yes," she decided. "I couldn't give up that." She gestured over her shoulder at the evil baddies surrounding them. "Take them," she commanded.

The evil creatures snarled and hissed, dragging Buffy and the Doctor up and away.

"And take the time ship, too," the First ordered. "No doubt it'll prove useful, by the end."

* * *

They were lucky to make it back to the Axis, at all. This… First Evil… entity… whatever that might be, couldn't see Seo — but apparently its minions could still see her. Not well, but well enough. And with fully-visible Martha around, that gave them a pretty good indication of where to look.

Seo shoved something onto the top of the dimension gateway machine as they sprinted past it, then raced up the steps, grabbing Martha by the hand to propel her faster.

An explosion from behind them, and the stairway and light began to fade, around them.

"Faster!" Seo shouted, as the stairs broke apart a few steps behind.

Martha could feel the steps splintering underfoot, as she belted up the stairs, could feel the shimmer of the corridor giving way around her, as she raced to outrun the destruction of their escape route.

The moment they emerged into the bright white light of the Axis Hub, the portal crumbled completely. Martha looked back, and found… just a wall. Normal wall. No portal. No stairway.

No way back.

"I hope you know what you're doing," Martha told Seo. Because, if Seo didn't, then Martha had just gotten herself stuck, forever, in an impenetrable prison.

Seo shot Martha a serious, determined look. A look that said that she _had_ to do this, no matter what the risk, no matter what the consequences. No matter how impossible. She _had_ to try.

Martha sighed. She'd probably do the same, if it were her mum and dad out there, in danger. "All right," she said. "Let's go save your family."

Turned out, the procedure wasn't quite as easy as Seo had made it seem, before they'd arrived. It involved Seo rewiring a number of different devices, constructing a few extra things from her pockets and the equipment she'd built, before, in her room, and… then… for some reason… repeatedly hitting various pieces of equipment, very hard, with a rock.

Martha was getting the feeling that, while Seo knew it was theoretically possible to locate and spy on people in the real world… she'd never actually _done_ it before.

Then, as Seo knelt on the floor and connected two wires together in the main machine, an image flickered onto the screen. Except… it wasn't an image of the Doctor and Buffy.

It was an image of… well, of a trapped man in a black leather jacket, with close-cropped hair and big ears. He was stuck inside an icy-looking tube, his body rippling into and out of reality in a steady rhythm.

Seo paused. Looking up at him. A sad, desperate expression on her face.

"Is that… your dad?" Martha asked.

Seo nodded.

For a few moments, neither said anything. Both watching the man trapped in the icy tube.

And Martha realized… this was why Seo had really wanted to come here. This was who Seo really wanted to save. Who she'd always wanted to save. Her dad.

"I think… we should get the Doctor and Buffy out of trouble, first," Martha proposed. "Before trying to save your dad."

Seo looked over at Martha. "We fought," she said. "Just before he got taken. The last thing I told him… was that I hated him. And I wished he'd never saved my life in the first place."

Martha stared at her. Realizing that… Seo might be 98 years old, but… the Doctor was nine hundred and something. At ninety eight — Seo was still just a kid.

A teenager.

"I love him… so much," said Seo. "And I never said. He never even knew."

"I'm sure he knew," Martha assured her.

"How?" said Seo. "I'm not really his daughter. And I was a nightmare to raise. I blew up the Axis Hub at least forty times. I never followed the rules. Never did anything Dad told me. And even when I did try to help, I messed up all his plans, all the time. And then, there was this one time, when I built a temporal explosive device, and I lost it. And a few days later, Dad stormed over to me, really, really angry, and started shouting that my device had punched a hole in the universe and let in a being of unspeakable evil. And I got all defensive, and started shouting back at him, and…" She shook her head, a sad laugh passing her lips. "I don't know why he put up with me."

"Everyone goes through phases, when they're young," said Martha. She paused, then added, "And when they're older." She laughed. "My dad's going through one, right now. And mum can tell you all about _that_ , if you have an hour and a half and a very good set of earplugs."

Seo didn't answer. Her eyes still lingered on that image of her dad.

"You're a good kid," Martha told her. "Sure, you're not perfect. No one is. But you've got a good heart — good hearts. And that's what counts."

"No one's perfect," said Seo. "But most people don't need their dad to give them 'don't destroy the world' lessons, when they're growing up."

Martha cringed. Apparently, when Seo said she'd been a nightmare to raise, she'd meant it pretty literally.

"Travelling with the Doctor, you meet a lot of people whose dads should have given them 'don't destroy the world' lessons," Martha said. "And it's better than the alternative."

Seo gave a faint nod. And for a few moments, there was silence between them. Silence save for the gentle humming of the machinery.

"Buffy doesn't want to put up with me," Seo said, very quietly. "And she's… my mom."

Martha stared at Seo, trying to figure out if this was just teenage angst, or if there was something she'd completely missed about Buffy's feelings towards Seo. "Judging from what I've seen," said Martha, "your mum loves you a lot. She's basically sticking her neck out for you, in front of a group of unimaginably powerful super-entities. And she almost hit me when I told her you weren't really her daughter."

Seo looked down at the ground. "I tried… so hard," she said, "when I showed up on Earth, to make her love me. I did everything. Everything I could think of. But… she never… I mean, I didn't think she…" She bit her lip. "How do you know when your parents love you?"

Martha wasn't sure how to answer this question. "Everyone shows love… a little differently," she tried. And she was guessing that was probably true of the Doctor and Buffy more than it was for most parents. "But I think saving your life, even when that means they might kill themselves and destroy the universe, is a pretty good indication that they love you."

Seo nodded, but the idea seemed to make her even sadder. Her eyes still on the floor.

"Well… how did your dad show you he loved you?" Martha asked, trying to change tactic.

"Dad is… mostly non-corporeal," said Seo. "It lets him be in more than one place at a time. And do important saving-the-universe, helping-people type things. But… Dad always corporealized, every night, so he could tuck me in and give me a nighttime kiss." She smiled at the memory, hugging her knees to her chest. "Even when the outside world was falling apart and he should have been somewhere else — even when I'd just blown up the house, again, or accidentally punched a hole in the universe, or told him I hated him and wished I'd never been born — none of that mattered. Because he was still always there. With me. And only me. So he could tuck me in and kiss me good night."

Martha looked up at the screen. The image of the mostly non-corporeal entity that had raised Seo. Who could show her that he loved her with something so simple as fully corporealizing into reality.

"And I love him for that," Seo said.

Martha nodded. Remembering her own childhood. How her mum had taken the time to read her a bedtime story, every single night. How her dad had picked her up and put her on his knee, when a football game came on, so they could watch together.

Seo shook her head.

"But that wasn't how he _really_ showed he loved me," she said. "You're right. In the end, everyone shows they love me… by sacrificing themselves for me. Saving my life. Leaving me. It's what my parents did, in my old universe. It's what my dad did, here. And it's what… Buffy and the Doctor did… just now. Left me behind."

Martha had forgotten about that, when she told Seo that her parents loved her by saving her life. Forgotten that, in Seo's original timeline, both her parents had done the same thing — and wound up dying because of it.

"I… didn't mean it like that," Martha put in. "You didn't kill your parents, Seo. You—"

"I'm Death," said Seo. She crumpled in on herself. "It's what I do to the people around me. I make them love me, and then… they kill themselves to save me."

Martha shook her head. "But you don't want to be Death," she insisted. "You want to help others."

"I try," said Seo. "But I always muck it up. I tried to save my dad, and wound up causing a Dalek-Cyberman invasion. I tried to save Leah, Rowena, and Satsu, and wound up murdering them. I even tried to help Xander, and unleashed Twilight onto the universe." She shook her head. "I can't protect anyone, Martha. Every time I do, I fail."

Martha smiled at Seo. A gentle, reassuring smile. And put a hand on her shoulder.

"Well, that's why you have friends like me," said Martha. "To help you out with your plans. Make sure that, when you rescue people, you do it in the right way."

Seo's expression wavered. She looked up at Martha, a glimmer of hope in her eyes. "You're… my friend?"

"Of course!" said Martha.

Seo gave herself a small, shy smile. "My first friend," she whispered.

And Martha realized that, for someone like Seo, isolated and alone for nearly a century, these words meant a lot more than to most other people.

Martha helped Seo up to her feet and gave her a hug.

"Come on, you," Martha said, as they broke away. "Let's use this machine of yours to find the Doctor and Buffy. Because, with the two of them working together, you know they're already working on a really clever plan to save your dad."


	45. Chapter 45

It was blackness. Emptiness. Nothingness.

The air felt cold and biting. And burned her throat, every time Buffy inhaled. But it was more than that. The ambience of this… wherever she was… it felt like devastation. Like loneliness. Like every terrible nightmare, every darkest fear, every truth that Buffy hadn't wanted to face.

Buffy looked around. The evil creatures had all gone. Buffy, herself, was upright — but she felt like she was dangling. Even though there were no restraints around her arms and legs. And nothing to dangle on. When she tried to move her arms and legs, she found she couldn't.

"Not exactly what I was expecting," the Doctor said, from nearby. "Completely isolated dimension like this. But… well. Still interesting, nonetheless."

Buffy glanced over. To find the Doctor, on her left, restrained to nothing. Just the same way she was.

"You know, I've seen the First torture a lot of people," she said. "But I've never seen it bring them to an isolated black nothing dimension."

"Course not," the Doctor said, with a grin. "That's how you know he's really scared."

"Of us?"

"Nah," said the Doctor. "You and me? We're not important. We're just the bait."

Buffy looked around herself. At the nothingness. The horrible creeping loneliness that dwelt within this place. "This is for Seo."

"Sort of… a holding pen," the Doctor confirmed. "To keep Seo, until he's got her trained and ready to unleash on the universe." He stuck out his tongue, tasting the air, and then made a face. "Yech. All sorts of chemicals in the air. Probably to try to influence her mind. Amplify Toby's little mental tricks. Pull out all the stops. That sort of thing."

Buffy looked off into the distance. "You know, now that I see what the First does when it's actually afraid of someone, I'm feeling kind of offended that it never took me seriously."

"Well, if it's any consolation," the Doctor offered, "Toby probably hates you more than anyone else in the universe."

"So I'm not a threat," Buffy summarized. "I'm just really, really annoying."

The Doctor grinned at her, and winked.

"Still," said Buffy, tilting her head to the side, reflecting, "at least my daughter can scare the First. And kill it. That's good. It's always good to have unreasonably high expectations for your kids, that you, personally, were never able to fulfill. Right?"

"That's just Parenting 101," the Doctor agreed.

Buffy glanced over at the Doctor. "I wonder what we were like. In Seo's world." She gave a small laugh. "Can you imagine what weird parents we would have made?"

The Doctor didn't answer, but some of his good cheer fell, a little bit. And Buffy remembered… all at once… that he'd had children before. He'd had _grandchildren_ before. And lost them all.

Major oops moment.

"No TARDIS," the Doctor noted, changing the subject.

Buffy glanced around. Frowned. The TARDIS had been taken when they had, but… she couldn't see it. "It's probably hidden," she assured him. "That's what I would have done."

"No kidding," said the suddenly appearing image of Buffy, strolling towards them. A sneer on her face, as she looked them over — her playthings.

The real Buffy glanced over at the Doctor, a little nervously. He just studied the First's new form with barely concealed curiosity. As if trying to work out a puzzle in his head.

"Peladon," the Doctor muttered. "Course."

Oh… yeah. That was right. Buffy had died, right in front of him, back on Peladon. And Seo had brought her back to life.

That solved that problem.

"Where's the TARDIS?" Buffy asked the First.

The First didn't seem to bother with the question, at all. Just looked over the two of them, vaguely disinterested.

"You know, it's kind of amazing," the First remarked, crossing her arms, a pensive smile on her face. "You two little tiny things. You two insignificant little specks. Barely worth a second glance."

"Insignificant little specks," said Buffy, "who managed to kick your ass. More than once."

The First didn't bother to even dignify this with a response. "Weave your genetics together, and the result is… such power! Such a prize!"

"Ooh, 'prize'," the Doctor said. "Like that. 'Prize'." He glanced over at Buffy. "Don't you?"

"It beats out, 'person I'm super-duper terrified of'," Buffy agreed. She tugged at her non-moving hands and legs. "And, you know what? As torture goes, this is actually pretty cushy."

The First looked at them, vaguely amused, and began pacing up and down in front of the two restrained people. As if just… waiting. Biding her time until the main event.

"Although, you could have offered us a cuppa," the Doctor put in. "Be fair."

Buffy opened her mouth to add in her own quip, but before she got the words out, she was plunged into a fire that raced through her body. A fire that burned across every nerve, every blood vessel, every cell of her being. She opened her mouth to scream, but she could feel water rushing in, could feel the air lurched from her lungs as she struggled to breathe, struggled to free herself…

And then she was fine. Back in the blackness. Except, now, she was panting for breath, and her throat felt scratchy and raw. And the Doctor was shouting at the First that, "That wasn't necessary!"

"Of course it wasn't 'necessary'," the First replied. It gave a cruel smile. "But I really, really hate her."

And with only a glance from the First, Buffy was plunged, once more, into a land of pain and torment, barely able to breathe, barely able to think.

When she emerged, again, she found the Doctor even angrier than before.

"…my turn, then?" he snapped. "Go on. She's not the only one you can torture to lure Seo here."

"Now this is interesting," the First noted. Looking between the Doctor and Buffy. "I torture her, and you insist I torture you, instead. But I'm guessing, if I torture _you_ …"

A sudden lurch ran through the Doctor's body, as he writhed against some unknown horror. An involuntary scream torn from his throat.

Buffy stayed silent.

As the Doctor sagged, trying to catch his breath, the First examined Buffy, curiously. "And no protest from you. Interesting."

"Not really," Buffy said. "I just don't like seeing you play us off against each other. It's childish."

The First laughed. "But this… this is nothing! Games before the slaughter." She advanced on the Doctor, her eyes boring into his. "What's physical pain, when I can dig deep into your soul? Expose your darkest fears? Dredge up your worst moments?"

The Doctor doubled up, as much as he could, given the restraints, a long stretch of pain tearing at his face. He spoke, his voice shaking, in a language Buffy couldn't understand. Spoke, until he began to shout. Began to scream.

"Okay, that's enough," said Buffy.

The First turned on her. A gleam in its eyes. And then… Buffy wasn't there, anymore. Was immersed in a moment. Immersed in time.

And it was happening, again. Just the way it had before. The way that Benjy had held her hand, told her, "I love you. And I'm not going to leave you." The way he'd been pulled away from her by that claw, Buffy screaming his name as she jumped at the demon, in a wild craze, stabbing at it with every weapon she had, desperately trying to cut him free.

She could see the blood on her hands… could smell the blood in the air… as she tried, over and over again, to revive him. Could feel the dead coldness of his skin. See the emptiness in his eyes. Feel that horrible wrenching in her heart, as she realized he was dead… dead… gone…

And she couldn't save him.

"No!" Buffy found herself shouting — screaming — as the memory faded into black around her. "It isn't fair! It isn't…!"

Then realized she was back. Out of her memory. Out of that moment. Months after Benjy had been buried.

Just like every guy that Buffy liked enough to sleep with would be buried.

Because the Powers that Be said so.

"It _isn't_ fair," Buffy said, sagging in her bonds, bitterness thick in her voice.

"Psychic amplifiers, heightened by the warped geometry of the dimension," the Doctor told the First. "Nice trick. You planning to use that one on Seo, when she turns up?"

The First ignored him. Just gave a malicious laugh. "This is fun, isn't it?" it said. "But it'll be so much more fun when I kill off the Powers that Be, and take the Embarrassment for myself." Her eyes grew dark, proud, overbearing. "Oh, and I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on the Embarrassment. Can you imagine when he sees this place? Sees what I've done?" It laughed, again. "He hates it when other people play with his toys."

"I'm assuming that, by 'toy', you're referring to Seo," the Doctor said.

"Oh, no," said the First. "She's a Weapon. You two are the toys."

The Doctor quirked an eyebrow at the First. "Well, that's flattery for you." He glanced over at Buffy. "Hear that? We're toys."

"Dunno about you," said Buffy, still slumped in her bonds, "but I'm feeling pretty 'toy' right now."

The First walked over to Buffy. "Oh, but of course," she said. "After all. Your whole life, you've just been a plaything. A little, itty bitty toy of the higher beings."

"At least I'm an annoying toy," Buffy muttered. "I'm like Furby."

"And you thought the Powers that Be were so very nice," the First said. "You fought for them. Saved the world for them. Defeated me for them." It glanced over at the Doctor. "And then they tortured him."

Buffy's eyes narrowed. "Just because they're bad doesn't mean you're any better."

"They tortured him," the First repeated. "Nearly destroyed him. Nearly destroyed you. Because they wanted to see the Embarrassment squirm. They hurt you both, so they could hurt _him_."

The Doctor hissed through his teeth. "So that's your game."

"And the Embarrassment could have stopped it all," said the First. "If he'd just handed the Weapon over to the Powers that Be. But, of course, he didn't dare. He let the two of you nearly die, because he loved a cute little half-breed too much to let her suffer."

"She's watching this, isn't she?" the Doctor asked. His eyes scanned the room for cameras, but found none. "Somehow, Seo's watching all of this."

Buffy glanced over at him. Suddenly realizing. "You mean… everything the First's saying…?"

"Isn't for us," the Doctor agreed. "It's for her. Playing up _her_ guilt. _Her_ anger. Trying to weaken her mind, before she comes here."

"And why not?" said the First. "After all, Seosyrae is Death. She's proved it, over and over again. She's destroyed everyone who's ever loved her. Ever cared for her. Look at how much pain she's caused her dad, who only ever wanted to protect her! And as for you two… well, she already knows what she's done in her world. And in this one…" The First gave a cruel laugh. "…we'll see how long she needs to watch you two tortured, before she intervenes. Traps herself here to save you."

"Oh, but that's not the deal," the Doctor argued. "Our lives aren't up for bargain. Not really. You've got plans for me, and there's no way you're letting Elizabeth out of here alive. Which means… we're only here for illustration. To show her what you can do."

The First noted the Doctor's cleverness with only a mild interest.

"Because the one you're really threatening," said the Doctor, "is Seo's dad."

The First's grin widened.

And both Buffy and the Doctor knew that the Doctor's guess had been right.

"You can't rough him up too much, though," the Doctor noted. "After all, you need him. Just as much as the Powers that Be."

"Oh, I'm not planning to rough him up at all," the First replied. "If Seosyrae gives me what I want, I'm planning to rescue him."

Buffy frowned. Either the First was massively lying… or there was something she was missing, here.

The Doctor groaned. "Don't give me that," he said. "You're not planning to 'rescue' him. You're planning to snatch him up for yourself. Make him _your_ prisoner, instead of theirs."

"But I'd be a much kinder jailer," said the First. "Because I'd give the Embarrassment back the one thing he really wants. The only thing he ever wanted. His sweet little half-breed Genocide Machine. His adorable little Apocalypse Creator."

"No, you won't," said Buffy. "Who're you kidding? You want to use Seo for yourself."

The First mused this over. "I could," she said. "Once Seosyrae opens the red crystal, I could easily filter the regenerations and the destructive power through her mind. Or… I could filter them—" Turning to the Doctor. "—through _yours_."

The Doctor said nothing.

"Leave Seosyrae alive," the First continued. "Untouched. To spend the rest of her single, long, unending life, imprisoned here, with her dad. Knowing that she's to blame for the death of her parents, in this universe. Just as she was in her own."

"She wasn't—" Buffy started.

"Or," said the First, "on the other hand, Seosyrae could give herself up, in some heroic attempt to save your lives. I hope she does. She'd be difficult to control, yes, but I'll get her there eventually." It relished in the idea. "And, of course, that kind of destructive power in a vessel like Seosyrae — that's an opportunity I could scarcely dream of. I wouldn't need to limit my influence to this universe. I could rule everywhere. Spread my evil through the entire multiverse." A hint of spite flooded the First's eyes. "I could _finally_ wipe the grin off that Embarrassment's face. Finally make him bend to my will, once and for all. Destroy that fragile human soul of his."

"Bend to your will," the Doctor repeated. His eyes illuminated with sudden realization. "Well, if you hate Seo's dad that much, I suppose that answers my question. Seo's dad _was_ planning this. All along."

The First's confidence faltered just a little.

"That's why he destroyed the Seeds," the Doctor said. "Let me sweep up the ones he hadn't gotten around to, yet. It's why all the isomorphic controls in the Axis are meant for me. Why I was given 'freedom'. And why he rescued Seo, in the first place." His face fell. "Until he realized he loved her. Knew how much it would hurt her. And couldn't bear to go through with it."

"It's too late for him, now," the First said. "Too late for his plans. His foolishness. The Powers that Be have seen to that."

The Doctor quirked an eyebrow at the First. "Is it? Is it really?"

For the first time since Buffy had met the entity, the First stepped away. Looking guarded.

The Doctor glanced over at Buffy. "Elizabeth," he said. "You met Seo's dad. Tell me. Why did _he_ say he let the First into this universe? Why did he claim to have created the Scythe?"

"To stop the Oblivion War," Buffy said. "In the distant future."

"A war whose causes no one ever quite understood," the Doctor said, turning back to the First. "A war that, I'm assuming, based on the prominence of the Slayer and the Watchers Council, was caused by spillover from your own higher-dimensional battle." With a grin. "Because _that's_ what Seo's dad was really doing, when he wasn't mucking about with me or Elizabeth. That was his goal. To limit the damage from your war with the Powers that Be. To stop the violence."

"And he failed," the First replied. "I will manifest, spread the violence and death and destruction tenfold." It seemed supremely proud of itself. "Yes, the Embarrassment _had_ a plan. But he never told Seosyrae. He loved her too much to hurt her like that. And by the time he gets the chance to tell her, it'll be too late."

"Ah," said the Doctor. "But _I_ know the plan. I've worked it out."

The First said nothing.

"That's why Seo's dad wanted me here," said the Doctor. "Gave me access to everything. All I needed to work out the answers. Because when it all went wrong, he knew I'd have to be around — to tell her how to end this."

There was a flicker of a shadow that stretched across the Doctor's face, as he spoke. The pain of realizing that he was being asked to do something he didn't want to do.

"Seo can do it," said the Doctor. "She could stop this war of yours without committing genocide. I could tell her how. How to separate herself from Twilight, stop you and the Powers that Be from mucking about with us lower dimensional beings, and let her live her normal life. In freedom."

"What?" Buffy said. She snapped her head around to the Doctor. "You mean… there was something else we could have done to separate her from Twilight, besides removing Seo's regenerations? Killing her twelve times?"

The Doctor gave her a look. A dark look. And Buffy realized… whatever Seo's dad had been planning, whatever the Doctor had worked out, it wasn't something he'd ever wanted to offer Seo.

"It's really bad," Buffy guessed. "Unthinkable."

The Doctor nodded.

"But it's the only way _you'd_ both make it out of this alive," the First spat at them. "That's your real objective. To use the Weapon to save yourselves."

Buffy shook her head, sadly. A small smile on her lips. "We've given up our lives to save her once before," she said. "She knows this isn't about us. Not really."

The First faltered. Almost afraid that… maybe… the Doctor and Buffy weren't bluffing. That maybe this had all gone horribly wrong.

Then brushed it off.

"You'd never do it," the First decided. "You're too merciful for that. Too compassionate. Too soft. You'd never subject her to the pain, the torture, the torment of making that choice." It gave the Doctor a challenging stare. "How much cruelty would you subject her to, in order to grant her her freedom?"

The Doctor's face was stony. Rigid. But Buffy could see a hint of hesitation inside of it. Because as much as he was devoted to helping save the universe, the Doctor was never cruel. Not to the people he liked. Not to the innocents.

But… Seo's freedom.

Buffy looked at the prison they were stuck inside. The prison of vast emptiness, loneliness, and despair. Where the First was planning to lock up Seo, forever.

She and the Doctor had taken away Seo's regenerations. Given her one life.

And this was how Seo would spend it. Locked away, forever.

"Free her," Buffy told the Doctor.

He turned to her, hesitation in his eyes.

"The hardest choices are always painful," Buffy said. Thinking of when she'd chosen to send Angel to Hell. Chosen to jump into that portal. Chosen to send those Potentials into battle, even though she knew they wouldn't all make it out alive. All those hard decisions. All those terrible choices. "You know that, too. You've made them yourself. But they make us better. They make us who we are."

The First laughed, maliciously. "You would subject your own child to—"

"Please," said Buffy, to the Doctor, ignoring the First. "If it gives her the chance to live her life — even if it's just one life — in freedom. Then please. Let her make that choice."

Their eyes met, for that moment. And they could both feel the same thing. The same understanding. That same knowledge that… they hadn't given birth to Seo, in this reality. Hadn't given her that gift of life. Or that gift of a family. Or that gift of love and affection, or even the one of having parents who didn't fervently deny that she was their daughter the moment they saw her.

But they could give her this. They could give her freedom.

The Doctor turned, his face looking out into the blackness. As if addressing Seo, directly, wherever she might be watching. "Like energy flows to like energy," he said. "You don't have to kill everyone, to end this. Just…"

A surge of pain flowed through him, and he doubled up, trying to maintain enough self control to force out the words. To tell Seo what she needed to know.

"…one… person!" the Doctor shouted, through the anguish.

Then the convulsions seemed to ramp up. More and more. The First's eyes growing murderous, its face thunderous, as it refused to let the Doctor go. Refused to let him continue to speak, except to cry out in anguish.

"One more word," the First threatened, "and I _will_ kill you."

And Buffy knew that the First meant it. That whatever plans the First had had for the Doctor were now swept aside, in the light of what he'd just said. Because this was the First, when it was really afraid. Really desperate.

And as Buffy felt the next wave of torture sweep across herself, even more violent and heart-wrenching than last time, she just hoped that Seo would make the right decision.

Whatever that was.


	46. Chapter 46

Martha had noticed the way that Seo had been reacting, as this… First Evil thing… had been speaking. As it began to explain its true plan to the Doctor and Buffy.

"He can't be serious," Martha told Seo, the moment the First threatened Seo's dad. That higher dimensional being, trapped by the Powers that Be, who'd raised Seo. "This… First Evil… is never going to just give you back your dad. If you set one foot in there, you'll be trapped forever. And you'll never be able to help either your dad, or Buffy and the Doctor, that way."

Seo didn't say anything. As she listened to the Doctor explain that the First needed her dad, just as much as the Powers that Be.

"It said… it knew Dad would save me," Seo whispered.

"Who said?" asked Martha.

"Twilight," said Seo. "It said… when it chose me… I became Dad's other half. That we were drawn to each other."

Martha nodded, slowly. "Yeah, but… what does that mean?"

Seo didn't answer.

But Martha noticed how she got paler and paler, as the Doctor kept hinting at what he wanted Seo to do. At the other way that Seo could end this all.

"One… person!" the Doctor shouted, on the screen, through torture.

Seo stumbled backwards. "No!" she said. Squeezed her eyes shut, anger flooding through her. "No!" she screamed. "You can't! You can't ask me to…!"

Martha frowned. "What?"

"I won't!" said Seo. "I won't do it! You can't make me… you can't just think I'll…!" She looked up at the screen, where her parents were being tortured. Where the First had resumed its game of making them writhe and scream. "It isn't fair."

Martha didn't know what the Doctor had just asked Seo to do. But she wasn't sure how much more she could just sit around watching the Doctor get tortured, without doing anything to stop it.

"Seo," Martha pleaded. "Those are your parents. You can't just—"

"Yes, I can!" Seo snapped. Crossing her arms, in a huff. "I can just sit around here and let them get tortured. Or killed. I can do anything I want! I'm not just some… weapon! And… and… and they're not really my parents!"

Martha frowned even deeper. "Seo, what did the Doctor ask…?"

"They're not," Seo retorted. "They're not my parents, this isn't my universe… and… and… who cares if it gets destroyed? Who cares if the Origin of All Evil takes over my father and uses him to plunder the cosmos? I don't. I don't care at all."

She began pacing, now, her eyes fixed on the ground, her hands waving through the air with every word.

"This isn't my war!" Seo continued. "It's not my conflict. I never asked to be able to kill gods. I never wanted this kind of responsibility. I never…" She stopped in her tracks. Bunched her hands into fists, turned to the screen, and shouted, "You should have just killed me 13 times! That would have been easier!"

Martha wasn't sure what to do.

From on the screen, the Doctor shouted, through the pain and the torture, "Think about what he'd want you to do, not what you—"

Seo slammed down her fist on the machine, and the display shut off. She breathed, heavily. Anger and desperation in her every gesture.

Martha stared at her. Trying to make sense of the outburst. "I don't…"

"To stop this," said Seo, through her teeth, "end this conflict, save my parents, the only person I have to kill…" she paused, the pain bleeding through into her face, "is my dad."

And then it dawned on Martha, exactly why Seo had blown up about this. What must be going through her head, right now.

"My parents," said Seo, "or my dad. That's my choice."

Martha opened her mouth to chime in her two cents, about how Seo should rescue the Doctor, but… that pain, tearing through Seo, that anger and hurt and suffering…

How would Martha feel, if it was her family?

"Dad's stopped wars," Seo said. "Huge, intergalactic wars. He's saved billions — no, trillions — of lives. Over and over again. Done some of the most amazing things you could imagine." Her hands shook, as she looked up at Martha. "And he told me… the best thing he ever did… was saving my life."

Martha didn't know what to say.

"That's my dad," said Seo. "That's who you're asking me to give up. That's who you're asking me to sacrifice."

Martha looked over at where the screen had once been. "The Daleks destroyed the Doctor's home," she said. "Killed everyone he ever knew. But… in Manhattan, when the Daleks tried to genetically engineer themselves, change themselves for the better — he risked his own life. To give them that chance." She looked back at Seo. "That's the Doctor."

Seo said nothing.

"And I don't know your mum," said Martha. "Except that, last time I was in Sunnydale, she saved my life without knowing who I was or what I was doing. Without asking for anything in return."

Seo clenched her fists tighter.

"They're going to die," Martha pleaded, "if we don't save them. You have to—"

"I don't have to do anything," Seo growled. "This isn't about me. This isn't my…." She hissed through her teeth. Then looked back at Martha. "That's not the only way to end it. I could kill everyone. The First. The Powers that Be. Wipe them all out, once and for all. Become the weapon I should have been all along."

Martha wasn't sure how to answer this.

"They deserve it," said Seo. "The Powers that Be started this whole thing, in the first place. They're the ones who destroyed their old universe. If I got my hands on the destructive energy inside the red crystal, again, I could take everyone out, all at once. I could wipe out—"

"Yeah, but… your dad wouldn't want you to do that," said Martha. She looked over at the machine. "And neither would the Doctor and Buffy. Your parents."

Seo said nothing for a few long moments. Then dropped her eyes down to the ground.

"I could be a coward," she proposed. "Surrender myself to the Powers that Be. On the condition that they rescue my parents. But… then nothing would change. Things would go on like this forever." She dropped her head. "Dad would never forgive me, if I did that."

Martha reached out. Took Seo's hand. "What would your dad want you to do?" she asked. "What would he say, if he were here?"

A single tear trickled down Seo's cheek, as she met Martha's eyes.

And they both knew the answer.


	47. Chapter 47

Seo appeared in the blackness of the First's prison dimension. Stepped forward, determination on her face, as she stared down the specter.

The specter who looked like her mom. Her mommy. But wasn't. The specter whose power Seo could feel seeping into the dimension surrounding her. Flooding through this place, pumping evil and chemicals into the air.

"I'm here, now," Seo said. "Let my parents go."

The First seemed amused by the idea. Stalked towards Seo, but kept some distance between them. Cautious. Wary. But still feeling it was in control.

"So you came, after all," said the First. It folded its arms. "You've already heard my terms."

"Yes," said Seo. "But I've got other ones. And until you agree to mine, I'm not opening anything for you. Ever."

The First considered this. Mulled the idea over in its mind.

"What terms?" it asked, finally.

Seo looked over at her parents. At her father, who she'd always known was her father, but never really met before today — not so she could remember, anyways. And at her mother. Her mom. Buffy. Who she'd heard stories about, dressed up as, pretended to be when she was younger.

"You let them go free," said Seo. "Both of them. And you never so much as look at either of them, ever again."

The First wrinkled its nose at the idea.

"And you leave the Earth alone," said Seo. "Anywhere else in the universe, you can destroy. But the Earth stays unharmed."

"And I suppose you want me to save your dad, too," said the First. It rolled its eyes. "But that's not how the game works." It pointed its thumb back at the Doctor and Buffy. "It's either them, or your dad. You choose."

Seo stared daggers at the First. "You were never going to let Dad go, anyways."

The First began to smile. "So that's all you want? Buffy, the Doctor, and the Earth? Anything else is mine for the taking, as long as I spare those three?"

"Yes," said Seo.

"Including you," said the First, "and the Doctor's ship."

Seo hesitated. She hadn't thought of that. Handing the First an extremely powerful time machine — and someone with a body that could fly it.

But then she looked over at her parents. And knew — it didn't matter.

"Yes," she said.

The First smiled, a wide, cruel smile. Then waved its hands, and the Doctor and Buffy dropped to the ground with a thud. "I accept."

Buffy jumped to her feet, raced over towards the First and Seo, fire in her eyes. "Don't you dare—" Buffy started.

The Doctor grabbed her back, tried to calm her down.

"Oh, they can't get here, anyways," the First assured Seo. "I've sealed off this area. It's just you and me, in here." Its eyes glinted. "You and me. Forever."

Seo swallowed. But didn't let any of her fear, any of her doubt, any of her emotions show on her face. This was her being brave. Her being strong. Her being what her parents would want her to be.

What she knew, in her hearts, her dad wanted her to be.

She just nodded.

The red crystal containing her regenerations — her power, her destructive potential, everything that turned her from a person into an evil killing machine — appeared, in the air before her. Hovering, glowing with the energy.

It smelled like time.

"Open it," the First commanded. "And accept the power. The power that will become mine."

Seo hesitated. Remembering what it had felt like, being shut away inside her own mind. Remembering what it had felt like, kicking and screaming and clawing to try to get out again. Being able to see and hear everything, but control nothing.

The First would do that to her. And it was far stronger than Twilight.

"Seo," the Doctor called out.

She looked up. Met his brown eyes with her own. The brown eyes she'd gotten from him.

"I'm sorry," he told her. "I am so, so sorry."

"You don't have to do this," Buffy added.

Seo strengthened her resolve. Peeled her eyes away from her parents. Fixed her gaze back on the First. Because she knew — her mother was wrong. She did have to.

She took a deep breath. Then reached out. And opened the red crystal.

It cracked beneath her fingertips, pouring light through the darkness. Its destructive, cold silver energy slamming through Seo's body like a tidal wave, tearing at her insides until she could barely stand.

And then… it was over.

Seo uncurled. Stood up straight. She could feel it, now, inside of her. The power. The raw, surging power. The power of destruction, the power of death running through her veins… and it was _hers_. Seeking _her_ out, specifically. Because the real evil was herself.

_You're in there_ , she called, to the Twilight entity. _I can feel you_.

It twisted and squirmed at her call. As if embracing an old friend.

_I know what you want,_ said Seo. _Even more than revenge. I'm giving it to you. To end this. End it all._

But before Twilight had a chance to reply, Seo felt herself slammed back. Slammed back by nothing. Skittering across the floor that didn't really exist.

"Oh, you didn't really think you could get away with it, did you?" the First asked.

Seo tried to get back to her feet, but sharp stabs of pain pierced her mind. Shadows and apparitions and specters danced across her vision. She clutched her head, her eyes closed.

"I knew you'd try to trick me," the First said, now standing inside her mind. No, not standing. Lingering. Seeing through her thoughts like a dark cloud, turning everything black inside of her. "But I didn't care. Because I knew that, deep down inside, you were a coward."

Seo ran. Inside her mind. She turned and ran, her mental feet pounding against a tumbling mental backdrop. Her hearts pounding. Her eyes desperately searching for somewhere she could hide.

_I can help,_ Twilight offered. _Let me out. I can get rid of it. Get rid of the First. Get rid of the Powers that Be. Destroy everyone and everything._

Seo ignored it.

"A coward," the First continued. "Afraid of everything. So terrified that you might be everything you're supposed to be. Not even willing to use your full strength because you think… they made you too much like Glory. You think they turned you into her. And that scares you to death."

The darkness pounced. Caught her. Dragged her backwards, but she kicked out. Tried to strike back. Tried to fight it off.

"After all, everyone who protects you suffers," said the First. "Your parents — your _real_ parents. Remember them? You wanted to know who they were. Wanted to know all about them. And then you looked… and found out all about yourself, instead."

The memory was dredged out of Seo's mind. Flashing through her. What she'd seen, when she'd snuck around the Axis, located her original timeline, and played it back. The way her father had looked, after Glory had gotten through with him. The way her mother had looked, after meeting Glory. The way Spike had looked, after _his_ interrogation.

Because of _her_.

"You put them through all of that," the First reminded her. "And then you betrayed them. Showed Glory where you were. What you were."

"I was a baby!" Seo shouted. "I didn't know!"

"But you're not a baby anymore," said the First.

A vision, implanted into her own mind, of the Doctor being tortured by vampires. Buffy begging them to stop. And… Seo's dad. Watching on the sidelines. Fuming, angry, but unwilling to give in to the Powers that Be. Unwilling to give them what they wanted, so they would stop this. Because he knew… the cost would be Seo's life.

"How long ago was that, for you?" the First asked. "Three months? Two?"

But Seo hadn't known that that was happening. No one had told her anything about it.

She remembered her Dad being angry, for no apparent reason. Being worried, even though he wouldn't tell her why. She remembered Dad taking her aside and telling her to remember — saving her life was the best thing he'd ever done.

And that was why. It was because all that, all the torture and the pain and the torment that was _her_ fault, stemming from _herself_ , it was all happening. Right then. Because Dad knew that the Powers that Be had all the proof they needed to go after Seo. Raid the Axis.

Dad knew he was about to lose Seo forever.

Seo remembered. Remembered all the people who'd died, so she could live. Who'd suffered for her. She felt herself melting away into nothing, as she thought of the deaths that her very existence demanded.

But there was another presence in her mind who caught her before she could melt out of existence. A backup presence, that Seo had created a telepathic link to. One that had insisted on coming along, just in case. One that had been right.

Martha Jones.

And Martha dragged up memories for Seo. Memories, from Seo's mind, of love and happiness. Of Buffy, hugging her, when she was alone and terrified, in the realm of the Powers that Be. Of Buffy telling her, in front of Cordelia, never to give up, never to give in. Of Xander, holding her hand, encouraging her not to be afraid, a kind smile on his face, as they waded through crowds containing more people than Seo had ever been around before.

Of Seo's dad corporealizing to hug her, one final time, just before he'd shoved her out the door and told her to run.

Seo grabbed up the memory of her dad and threw it back at the First. The memory of him holding her. Just the way Buffy — her real mother, from her universe — had held her, when she'd been just a baby, held her and told her, over and over again — _I love you, I love you, I love you_.

The First lost its grip, just for a second, and Seo rolled out of its influence. Ran as fast as she could, towards the back of her mind. She knew where she was headed. Where she needed to go. She knew what she needed to do.

But the First caught her before she got there.

"You destroyed your own universe," said the First, thrusting Seo's earliest memory back at her. Surrounding her with it, crushing her with the intensity of it. "And you were good at it. You could think up a way to destroy an entire world, in under five minutes, when you were still just a child. This is what you were born to do. What you were designed to do. Give in to me. Do what you're good at."

Seo, reinforced by the confidence of the first person ever to call herself Seo's friend, struck back. Throwing up the memory of Buffy telling her that it wasn't her fault. Throwing up the memory of Martha telling her she was a good kid. Of her dad, as he stood beside a sobbing, hysterical 38-year-old Seo, telling her, 'Now you know. What it's like to destroy the world. What it's like to tear apart something you can't put back together.'

And even then, even as she fought back with everything she had, Seo could hear that little voice in the back of her mind, that voice that she knew was _her_ , her darker side, reminding her that — even though she hated hurting people, hated destroying the world, had desperately tried for weeks to try to remake what she'd torn apart… she had been good at it.

She'd been very good at it.

"You said you'd spare the Earth," Seo reminded the First.

"And you said you wouldn't fight back," the First replied. "But we both knew, all along, it was a lie."

Seo tried to run. Tried to get away. Tried to claw and fight and struggle, but she was being pulled under, again. She called on the link with Martha, once more, but this time, the First noticed it. And, with a pair of oversized scissors… cut the connection between them.

Leaving Seo alone, in the darkness of her own mind.

"You murdered your parents, once," said the First. "Destroyed your world. Wouldn't it be good to do it again — for real, this time? Wouldn't it feel fulfilling? Complete?"

"No," Seo retorted.

"It's what you were born to do," said the First. "What you were made to do. Made to be. You are Death. The End of All. The Coming of Darkness. The Vanquisher of Life." It circled her. "You are the Key. The Seventh Segment to the Key to Time." With a cruel laugh. "You are Dawn Marie Summers."

Something inside of Seo snapped.

She surged to her feet, her eyes blazing, a mental sword in her hand. She was the Dawning of the Second Sun. Seosyrae. Dawn Marie Summers.

_Buffy's sister? Well, basically, she's a troublemaker,_ Xander had said. _Never does what she's told. Steals everything in sight. But she's probably one of the nicest, bravest, most determined people you'll ever meet._

Remembered seeing pictures, on Buffy's mobile. Of the other her. The girl with the brown hair, the blue eyes. The girl who _hadn't_ ended the universe.

The girl who'd been fourteen, when Glory had tried to murder her. Who'd fought back. Who'd nearly won. But who'd still been unable to stop what had happened.

"No," said Seo.

"No?" laughed the First.

"No!" Seo screamed. She slashed at the darkness that was this evil entity. "I'm not a weapon! I'm not meant to destroy everything! I am Dawn Marie Summers, and I _didn't_ kill my parents! I _didn't_ destroy my world! Glory did."

"You don't believe that," said the First. "You feel the guilt."

"I feel pain over their loss," said Seo. "I feel hurt. I feel anger. But I can't blame myself. Because if I blame myself, I'm blaming _her_. The other me. And I know _she_ was innocent."

"How?" said the First. "You haven't even met her."

Seo narrowed her eyes. "Because Xander told me so," she said. "And I trust Xander. More than anyone else — I trust him." And she sprung forwards, armed with the sword carved from her own self-confidence, and slashed through the black cloud.

"And what would Xander think, if he knew the real you?" said the First, trying desperately to strike back. "If he knew what you were about to do?"

"He'd believe in me," said Seo, flipping over the black cloud, and rushing forward, towards her goal. "Because I'm doing what Dad would have wanted. I'm ending the war without killing everyone. I'm finishing what he never could!"

The First tried to stop her, but Seo had already reached the door she wanted. The door that had remained hidden, inside her own mind. The door that she could only see because, now, she knew it was there.

The door that housed her connection to her dad.

She closed her eyes. Took a deep breath. And opened it.

She could feel him. In there. The other half of her. She could feel the energy that flowed through him — the energy he'd absorbed, when the Powers that Be had tricked him into deleting the Twilight timeline.

Because they knew that Twilight's energy matched their own. And if Dad deleted Twilight, the creational energy would spill through him, infect him. He, who was bound to the laws of this physical universe. Creating a perfect blend of old and new energies. Turning Dad into the perfect control conduit for ruling the universe — past, present, and future.

The Seeds 2.0.

He had been their slave. More than anyone else used by the Powers that Be. Because every action the Powers that Be took — every action the First took — was filtered through him. Using his energies. They had tricked him, then used him to control the universe — with a stronger grip than they ever had using the Seeds.

Dad had tried to fight back against them. Tried to make them stop. He'd gone to war against the higher powers. But he had lost. Been imprisoned — his first incarceration.

And when he was released, he'd given up hope. Given in. Given the Powers that Be everything they'd wanted, in a formal contract. He'd thought… that was it. That was all.

_But then I found you._

Seo felt the hint of tears in her eyes, as she heard his voice, running through her. Through the connection. Through the energy spread out between them.

She could feel the flood of happy memories rushing through her. Memories of times when they'd been together, laughing and enjoying themselves, either to give one another comfort, or to have fun creating some scheme that would help fix the larger universe.

She remembered helping him design a regenerative recycler, arguing that it couldn't just recycle energy — it also had to 'look really freaking cool'.

Remembered running around, when she was young, pretending to be Buffy and rescue her dad from the evil vampires she'd drawn up on pieces of cardboard.

Remembered… the day she'd lost her favorite stuffed bunny, and Dad had taken the whole day off just to help her find it.

Remembered the stories he'd told her. About Buffy. About the Doctor. About life and the universe and everything. Every story ending with death, destruction, and misery.

Remembered her own stories. The ones with the happy endings. The stories she'd made up, the remarks she'd come up with, the word games and cleverness and ridiculous statements she'd said — all just to make Dad laugh. Because Seo knew — Dad was too sad, already. Far too sad. And it was up to her to bring some happiness and laughter into his life.

Remembered the way he'd held her, when she was upset and lost and alone.

Her dad.

Her brilliant, wonderful daddy.

And Seo was the one person who could kill him.

"Was that the only reason you saved me?" she asked him. "Was that the real reason you raised me? To be your executioner?"

Her dad never answered her.

But she could feel love radiating from him. Love and affection towards her. A feeling like she was the most amazing little girl he'd ever known.

_Let me tell you a story. A story with a happy ending._

Outside her own mind, Seo knew, her parents were trying to break down the barrier separating her from them, trying to get to her. They'd be torn apart by the First, if she failed. Or locked up by the Powers that Be.

If she didn't do this, they'd never be free, again.

_Once upon a time, there was a human woman. A Slayer. Named Buffy. Who, like all humans, fought — but did not know and could not see. And one day, Buffy met an alien. A Time Lord. Called the Doctor. Who had seen everything in the universe, but held only despair and darkness inside his soul, because he had seen too much._

The First was still barreling through her mind. Still trying to get a hold of her. But Seo could end this. End the war. End the bloodshed. End the way the higher powers had kept screwing with everyone's lives. She could save her mother and father. Save Martha. Save everyone.

_And they fell in love. And had a little girl. A baby they should never have been able to have. Who should have died, when she was still an infant._

_But she survived._

This was Seo's destiny. To separate the higher and lower dimensions. To be Dad's executioner.

_Seosyrae. The Dawning of the Second Sun. Still alive, to this day. To illuminate the darkness._

_You, Seo. You're alive._

_That's the happiest ending of all._

Seo closed her eyes. Tears streaming down her cheeks. "I love you," she whispered.

And unleashed the Twilight energy from deep down inside of her.

The energy roared. Its destructiveness surging through her, draining from her regenerative energy, seeping out of herself, as it recognized its other half. Recognized itself. Like energy goes to like energy.

Seo felt it surging through that connection. Surging through her dad. Burning him away, as it entered him, burning him more brightly than any star, in a burst of oblivion that seemed a sigh of relief. One last breath of, "Finally…"

And then…

He was gone.

The door was closed. The destructive energy had drained from Seo's body, and she had thirteen lives, again, thirteen lives that she'd exchanged for murdering one.

She dropped to the ground of her mental landscape. By the door that had once housed that connection to her dad.

And cried.


	48. Chapter 48

Buffy felt the entire ground shake, around her. No, scratch that. The entire dimension.

"She did it," the Doctor said. "Actually did it." He seemed impressed. "Brave girl."

"What did she do?" Buffy asked.

"Exactly what you did, in the timeline that got erased," the Doctor told her. "She destroyed the control conduit. Her dad. Permanently separating us from the higher powers."

Buffy's eyes went wide. "Her _dad_?! She sacrificed her dad to stop those stupid Powers that Be and help save the universe?"

"Yep."

Buffy swore beneath her breath, as she finally managed to push past the already-giving-way barrier between herself and Seo, and ran over to cradle the girl. God, she was a _terrible_ mom! "Because Seo wasn't already feeling totally guilt-trippy about killing her parents."

"Now you know," the Doctor said, pushing through the barrier, himself, "why I didn't want to tell her."

The entire dimension shook, again, and Buffy could feel things falling away from it. Things… she couldn't quite comprehend. Could only feel, on the outskirts of her Slayer senses.

"Is she all right?" Buffy asked.

The Doctor knelt down by Seo, reached out to touch her, wake her up. And the moment his hand made contact…

Zap!

Buffy looked around. Discovered they were in the Axis. And there was Martha, standing by a group of machinery, a button beneath her fingertip, looking out at them, worried.

A screen in front of her displayed the area where Buffy, the Doctor, and Seo had just been.

"Martha Jones!" the Doctor cried. "You beamed us out."

Martha raced forwards towards Seo, kneeling down with concern on her face. "Please tell me she's all right," Martha said to the Doctor. "I was inside her mind, but then that First Evil black cloud cut our connection."

"She's all right," the Doctor told Martha. "In grief, but she'll pull through. Certain of that."

Then the Axis shook, violently.

"Uh… when you said that Seo's dad dying would separate the dimensions," said Buffy, "did you also mean this one?"

"Possibly," the Doctor said. Then, amended, "Probably." He scratched the back of his neck. "Should have thought of that."

Martha's eyes lit up. "Forgot the TARDIS!" she said, running over to the control panel, and punching another button.

The TARDIS shimmered into sight, just beside them.

A heavy clunking sound resonated around them. Followed by another. And another.

"This dimension's sealing away," the Doctor said, glancing around. He dug the TARDIS key out of his pocket, and bolted forwards, opening the doors. "In!"

Martha didn't have to be told twice.

Buffy grabbed up Seo, and rushed into the TARDIS after them, the doors slamming shut behind, as the Doctor pulled the dematerialization lever. There was a violent shaking, as the TARDIS wheezed and groaned, complaining and sparking at them, as it struggled to break free.

The Doctor slammed down two levers, and hit something with a mallet. "Come on, Old Girl!" he shouted. "You can do it!"

The TARDIS console sparked, again, and with a final shaking thud, the machine fell silent.

The Doctor punched the air, in triumph. "Ha!" he shouted, at the TARDIS central column. "Brilliant, you are! Brilliant!"

"Is the Axis gone?" Buffy asked.

"What?" the Doctor asked, spinning around to face her. "Oh. No. No, it's still out there. Inaccessible, but out there. Can't take back what's been done. Like I said. But… well…" He gave a slight grin, and a wink. "No more timelines will be added in, in the future. Which means, if some impulsive Time Lord happens to interfere in your past a bit too often… could win you back your freedom."

Buffy grinned at him. "You're just on a giving-back-freedom roll, aren't you?"

"Oh, yes!" the Doctor said. "Freedom for all! Everywhere. Future's an open book. Past is an open book. Everything is up for grabs, again!"

The smile dropped off her face. As something occurred to Buffy, suddenly. Something… she really, really should have thought about, earlier.

"Wait, you mean…" Buffy hesitated. Then said, in a quiet voice, "If you showed up, in your own future, but my past. And… interfered. Then… stuff could happen. Like, changing my own past. Stuff you didn't expect."

"Yep!" said the Doctor. "Or could change your future! Cause and effect's all a bit wibbly. As I said."

"Like… I could die," said Buffy. "Before I'm supposed to." Exactly like he'd said. And he'd believe that he caused it. That it was his fault. Because of this. Right here. Right now.

The Doctor quirked an eyebrow at her. "Well, a bit morbid, but yes," he said. "Suppose so. Could die. Could not! Could get married, have kids, have a family! Who knows?"

"But… but I _didn't_ die," said Buffy.

"Like I said!" the Doctor agreed. "Could not! Open book and all that."

"No, no," said Buffy. She took in a deep breath, trying to figure out how to phrase this. "Doctor. You have to listen to me. It's really important. I _didn't_ _die_."

The Doctor frowned.

"I jumped," said Buffy, "but I survived. You have to remember that. You have to remember I'm still alive." She felt her hands shaking. "Promise me."

The Doctor absorbed this information. "Promise," he told her. "You jumped. But you survived. Got it."

Phew. Good. Maybe that would work.

He turned back to the central console. "Well, any rate, shouldn't worry about my causing you to die in your own past," the Doctor said, racing up to the console. "Could cause a great big paradox. Or at least, a weak point in time and space. I'd say it was pretty much impossible, but, well, considering Seo's nature, I suppose that means it's only mostly improbable — or maybe only slightly improbable — and that..." He paused, looking at the controls on the console. He flipped a switch, and his frown deepened. "We've landed."

"Where are we?" Martha asked.

The Doctor rushed forwards, stuck his head out the doors to the TARDIS. Grinned, as he threw them open. "Peladon!" he announced. "Correct dimension, this time. With birds, people, Aggedors, the works!"

A groan from the ground of the TARDIS, behind them. The Doctor and Martha turned, to find Seo getting up. Her eyes sluggish. Bloodshot. Tears still inside of them.

"Hullo, there," the Doctor said. "How you feeling?"

Seo looked up at him. Her face very obviously showing that she was feeling a pain far too deep for words. "Fine."

"Are you sure—?" Martha started.

But then Seo's eyes landed on the open door to the TARDIS. The sounds of birds in her ears. The sounds of movement outside.

And with a stubborn determination she'd inherited from both her parents, Seo stuffed any trace of guilt, anger, pain, and loss behind a mask of happy enthusiasm — and jumped to her feet, rushing out the door.

Looking around herself, as if she couldn't quite believe where she was.

"This is what it's supposed to look like!" Seo cried. "What it's supposed to feel like! All the life! All the people! Their timelines extending on forever and ever! It's… it's…" Her breath caught in her throat. "…beautiful," she whispered. "So beautiful."

Then she stopped. Wrinkled her nose.

"Except I smell like… regeneration," she complained. And as she remembered why, what she'd done… her face fell. She turned back to the TARDIS, stumbled inside. "Thirteen lives. And nowhere to live them."

"You could stay here," Martha proposed. "Travel with us." She looked over at the Doctor, expectantly. "Can't she?"

The Doctor seemed to be musing the idea over in his head. "Well, I suppose…"

Buffy grabbed Seo up by the shoulders. "Oh, no, you don't," she warned. "Hands off."

The Doctor shot her an amused grin. "Feeling a little motherly?"

"You get a time machine," Buffy pointed out. "Complete freedom. Adventure and excitement and beauty, every day, along with the most amazingly wonderful sights you could imagine." She hugged the girl a little tighter. "You get the universe. And I get Seo. That's a fair exchange."

The grin melted into a smile. "Fair exchange," the Doctor agreed.

Seo looked bewildered. Confused. "But… but I'm not a weapon, anymore," she said. "I'm not insanely dangerous. There's no reason to keep me locked up. Why could you possibly want me…?"

"Because you're my daughter," said Buffy. "The only daughter I'll ever have. The most insane, crazy, infuriating, wonderful daughter I could ever have." She smiled. "And, basically, after I've saved the world, over and over again, getting nothing for it…"

Seo looked up at her. Wide, deep, curious brown eyes.

Buffy kissed Seo on the top of her head. "You're my reward," she said. "My happy ending."

* * *

The Powers that Be had foreseen it. They had known, from the moment that Buffy contacted the Doctor, that this would be the outcome.

They had warned her. She hadn't heeded their warnings.

And as their control conduit died, and they were separated from the mortal realms, they were unable to stop the chain of events from taking place. The chain of events that would lead to the emergence of evil, and the end of the Earth.

Unable to stop Seo from stepping out onto the surface of Peladon. The smell of Time Lord regenerative energy pouring through the air around her.

Unable to stop that smell from wafting through the wind, until it was picked up by a creature. A creature living in a stolen body. Who carried a stolen vortex manipulator.

"Father of Mine," said Mother of Mine, sniffing the air with greed in her eyes. "I smell a Time Lord."

* * *

Giles returned on the first of July.

Willow and Xander had tried to figure out where he'd been. What he'd been up to. Why he'd run away. But they'd basically just ascertained that Giles had been doing some very important work for the government, but had definitely mentioned nothing at all about Seo to any government officials — before the ghost shift turned into a Cyberman invasion.

Then the Daleks showed up.

And… well… by the end of it all… Giles' disappearance didn't really seem that important, anymore.

* * *

"Is she a threat?" Lucy Cole asked her fiancé.

Saxon perused through the information he'd jotted down onto the paper in front of him. The information concerning Willow Rosenberg.

"She's immensely powerful," Saxon admitted. "And a genius. Almost took down my entire network. But I've fixed the loophole she was using to hack Archangel. She won't get in, again."

He tapped the end of his pen against the paper.

Tap-tap-tap-tap. Tap-tap-tap-tap.

"Besides. I think she could be useful," Saxon announced.


	49. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all liked this story, and Adventures of A Line Hopper!
> 
> This story concludes Adventures of A Line Hopper, and starts the next series, The Child of Balime. Which takes place after this one. Hopefully, I don't lose all my readers, doing this, but I felt they should be two separate series.
> 
> Adventures of a Line Hopper centers around Buffy and the Doctor. It mainly focuses on the world of the Buffyverse, and how the Doctor ties into it.
> 
> The Child of Balime will center around Buffy, Jack, Seo, and (later) Dawn. It will be tied very strongly in with Torchwood. (And, yes, I am planning to have a story in which Seo meets John Hart. I'm pretty psyched about that one.) However, it will also cross with the Sarah Jane Adventures, and the Doctor will still show up. The Child of Balime will focus on events from the Whoverse, and how Buffy et all tie into them.
> 
> I'll probably wind up posting the next series slightly out of order, again. I think I'll post "Judgement" next, because I like that story a lot, even though "the Prophecy of Harkness" is the next story in the series. You can click on the series name to figure out in what order to read them, though.
> 
> I hope you all join me and keep reading.
> 
> Thank you for reading, thus far.

"…So, Seo's back, on Earth," said Buffy. "With me. To stay. Oh, and I tried to tell the Doctor I wasn't dead. Except… the Doctor and Martha wound up rushing off kind of quickly, so who knows where they are or what they're up to, now. Probably getting into trouble. They do a lot of that." She shrugged. "And… basically. That's my story."

A pause, from the other end of the phone.

"Uh… yeah, that's great, Buffy," said Dawn. "Can I get my identity back, now?"

Buffy's jaw fell open. "You're not shocked about any of that?"

"Yeah," said Dawn. "Yeah. Major shock factor. Whatever. Seriously, though — about the whole deleting-me-from-everything thing…"

"You're not surprised," Buffy cut in, "that Seo is actually not real. And an alternate timeline version of you. And was raised in the Axis, by my Doctor-Protecting Super Entity. And was locked up for 98 years, before she—"

"If I say 'yes', will you convince Seo to re-add me to government records, again?" Dawn asked.

Buffy sighed. "No."

"Oh, come on!"

"The Powers that Be gave Seo's name out to a whole bunch of different people, to try to track her down," said Buffy. "Her real name. _Your_ name. She and I both think it'd probably be better if you laid low for a little while. Just in case there's any bounty hunters around or anything."

Dawn said nothing for a long moment.

"Could I at least get my Archangel back?" she asked, at last.

"No."

"Come on!" said Dawn. "It's just Archangel! What bounty hunters are going to use Archangel?"

Buffy didn't want to even go there. Ever since Seo had returned, she'd been majorly twitchy about using Archangel. To the point of purposely stealing Buffy a cell phone that didn't use it. Which made Buffy have to go into the store, pay for it properly, and then have a long discussion with Seo about what "money" was, and how to use it.

"Dawn," said Buffy. "I just went up against the Powers that Be. _The Powers that Be!_ And I beat them. Give me a little credit, here."

Dawn sighed. "So… this is… what? The fifth completely unbeatable god-like entity you've defeated, so far? It's getting old, Buffy."

"And… and I have a kid, now," Buffy said. "Who saves the universe. And is also kind of you."

"Yeah, but after you meet Miss Crazy Homicidal Maniac Alternate-Universe-Buffy," said Dawn, "nothing really compares."

"And… and… and the Twilight creature, that was actually my kid!" Buffy said.

Dawn yawned.

"And the quarantined timelines thing!" said Buffy.

"Uh… we had a full scale Dalek-Cyberman Invasion, back here on Earth," said Dawn. "Next to that… kind of mundane."

"And… and… Seo's dad actually being the control conduit," said Buffy, "that the Powers that Be had tricked into…"

"Buffy, look, I've got a ton of work to do," said Dawn. "Aftermath of an invasion and stuff. So unless you're going to tell me something new, interesting, and exciting, I'm going to get back to that."

Buffy thought a long moment, curling the telephone wire around her finger.

"Well," she said, at last. "How about this? Based on how quickly Xander's fallen for Seo, I'm guessing he's had a secret gay crush on the Doctor for years, now."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever," Dawn muttered.

A moment of silence, as Dawn processed what Buffy had actually said.

Then: "Wait, _what?!_ "


End file.
